Vortex of Deception
by Kirstyn.T
Summary: Five years ago I witnessed the love of my life's death. Now I am being held against my will by the man who says he is my father, Vlad Masters. If I ever break free, what will I find in the town I once lived in? After all, a lot can be done in five years.
1. Prologue

**I feel extremely slack. I haven't written very much lately, since I've been focusing on one story in particular. But now I've decided to write another story, though I have no clue as to what direction it shall take. Meh, it'll go where I feel it'll go. Anyway…**

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Description: It has been five years since Sam was killed by the evil ghost Plasmius, and only now does Danny wake up from the slumber he was placed in a week before his best friend's death. Amnesia has clouded his brain, and now he must regain what he has lost. But first he must break free from the clutches of the man who says he is Danny's father – Vlad Master. But is there anyone waiting for Danny at his real home? A lot can be done in five years….****

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Vortex of Deception**

**Prologue**

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Samantha Manson_

I screamed as I scrambled behind a stone pillar, dodging the attack of the large red ghost who blocked the entrance to what I thought was the ghost zone. I panted as I tried to ignore my numerous wounds and rolled away from the pillar as it collapsed where I had been resting moments before.

"Die, mortal." The ghost rasped, appearing behind me.

I tried my hardest not to scream but failed, tears filling my eyes. How had things gotten so bad in only a week? Here I was, facing my death, all the people I had grown up with dying alongside me.

I ignored the painful throbbing in my chest as I turned to run from the ghost, but found that I was knocked off of my feet as I felt a searing pain in my back. I saw a large grey wall of stone approaching, and I clenched my eyes shut as I felt my body slam against it.

I felt various bones crunch and I screamed out in pain as I sunk to the ground. My head throbbed from where it had hit the wall, and I gasped painfully as my vision grew weak, bright white spots appearing and fading whenever I tried to look at something.

I felt myself slowly growing tireder, and the pain only seemed to get worse. Ahead of me I could see a great long hall, at the end of which was a large white room. I knew instantly that if I could make it there, I would be eternally happy. I knew that my wounds would be healed, both physically and mentally, and that I would see the people who I loved most in the entire world.

All I had to do was get on my knees and crawl. But I was too weak to even try, and found myself being carried away from the white room into a darkness that horrified me. I cried out for help, but no one could hear me.

Death, what a painful thing it was.

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Danny Fenton_

I watched in horror as Sam continued to try to enter the portal through which I was held captive. She screamed in pain and I bit back tears, struggling to go and save her. The ropes that bound me were unbreakable, but I continued to struggle anyway, knowing that it was pointless.

I tried to get her attention by calling to her, but over the previous week of screaming to try and indicate to someone that I was stuck in here, I found it impossible to do anything but whisper hoarsely.

I winced as I saw Sam's body smashing into a wall made from stone, and my stomach complained. I barely kept the small amount of food that I had digested down as I fought the tears that were streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks.

"Sam…" I whispered, my head sinking into my chest. I felt incredibly guilty – it was my fault that she was there in the first place. How could I live with the responsibility of the death of the girl I was in love with for the rest of my life? "No… you must not… die…. You can… survive…" I rasped.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel." My head snapped up as the red ghost who had been attacking Sam previously entered the room I was being kept in. "Samantha is now dead. And it's all your fault. Everyone hates you."

I whimpered as I tried not to listen to his words, telling myself that they weren't true. But what I had just witnessed on the other side of the vortex was proof enough. "I'll kill you." I hissed at him.

"They'll exile you; they won't want you as their companion, son, or student anymore. You'll be thrown in jail, and you'll have to live with the weight of Samantha's death on your shoulders." He told me sympathetically, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I tried to shrug it off but found that my body was too weak to do even that. I tried to keep my eyes open but found that my eyelids grew heavier with every passing second. What the ghost was saying was true, I knew that, but I didn't want to acknowledge the fact that Sam's death was my fault. I didn't want everyone thinking I was a murderer. I hadn't done it on purpose.

"But, if you want, we could fix all that. You could live a normal, happy life. No one would know of this, no one besides us. You'd be everything you dreamed of. We can do this for you." He informed me convincingly.

I was slightly suspicious at the way he said 'we', which hinted at there being more than one ghost in league with him. But that didn't matter to me, not at all. This life that he was speaking of was tempting. If I did not like it, I could always find a way to be killed in battle, or something heroic.

"Yes…" I whispered sluggishly. I could feel myself drifting into unconsciousness slowly, and only barely heard the footsteps of another creature approaching me.

"You have made a wise decision, my son."

I recognised the voice as Vlad Plasmius', my enemy, and shuddered. It was too late though – I was already under his control. I willingly sunk into the slumber that awaited me, one from which I didn't know when I'd wake.

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There we go, that's the prologue. I completed the prologue. I doubt that I'll get very far in this story because now I feel like writing the story that I am focusing on – Eternal. I'll try and continue writing though. Ah well. The only reason I'm posting the prologue is because I feel like posting another story. Hopefully, knowing that this story needs updating will make me continue to write it.**

**Love Kirst…**


	2. Chapter 1

**Oh my gosh, I just realised that I had forgotten to update this story, and put up this chapter, even though I wrote it like, two days after the prologue hahaha. Maybe it's because I got no reviews, so I totally spaced on it. I like that word. Spaced. Anyway, here is the first chapter... I can't be bothered writing this story much, though. I just started school again and I have a feeling that the teachers are going to pile up my homework, so I doubt I'll update this story much. I will do it once in a while. Anyway, enough on that, on to the story.**

**Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter One**

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I felt odd as I regained consciousness, regaining feeling in my limbs at the same time. It seemed like such a long time since I had moved at all, probably meaning that I had been asleep for a while. But the weird thing was that I had no memory of when I had fallen asleep or any time prior to that – all I knew was that I had been sleeping normally, peacefully even, and hadn't been in a coma.

I slowly opened my left eye and saw that my surroundings were a little bit blurry. I could see a white roof, and something green a few feet above me. I struggled to open my right eye and, ignoring the sharp burst of pain it caused, I succeeded. The green thing turned out to be a plant that was hanging from the roof.

I looked down at my body and saw that I wasn't wearing a shirt, but I had white shorts covering my lower body. I was lying on a white bed that had no sheets or blankets on it, and despite that, I didn't feel cold. I could see that some parts of my body were shiny with sweat even though I couldn't feel any heat.

I decided that I would have to move my body eventually and painfully forced myself to slowly move my limbs. First I struggled to move my fingers. It took a few minutes to get the slightest twitch, but it got easier from then on. It didn't take too long to get my entire body moving, and when done I sighed out of relief. I was able to move once again, though the physical pain that it caused me was excruciating.

I sat up slowly, my head growing heavy with the pain. I ignored it and forced myself to observe my surroundings. I was in quite a large room that had baby blue walls and baby blue carpet on the floor. I could see a large mirror adorning one of the walls, and I could also see a set of drawers, a desk with a computer on top, a small couch, a widescreen television, a wardrobe, and two white doors.

"Daniel, you're awake, finally!" A man cried with relief, causing me to jump in surprise. I wearily turned my head and saw a man with grey hair in a ponytail who was wearing a black suit running towards me with his arms open. He embraced me tightly before pulling away to look at me.  
"Who are you?" I whispered hoarsely.

He seemed shocked by the fact that I didn't recognise him. "You don't recognise me? It must be amnesia. Why, Daniel, I am your father!"

I raised my eyebrows in shock – wouldn't I recognise my own relatives when I saw them? I glanced at the mirror and saw that I had raven black hair that was also tied back into a ponytail, and my eyes were baby blue, like my room. I turned back to the man and observed him slowly, wondering why he looked so different to me.

"I… am Daniel?" I asked hesitantly, unsure if that was my name or what he enjoyed to call me. I don't know why but I didn't want to accept the fact that this was most likely my name. Maybe it was because I didn't like being called Daniel – maybe I liked being called something else instead, though I knew not what the name was.

"Of course you are Daniel! My, you must've really lost your memory. Can you remember _anything_ at all?" My father asked me, raising an eyebrow.

I closed my eyes slowly as my head throbbed painfully. I probably could remember _something_ if I concentrated hard enough, but I knew I was in no state to do that now. All I wanted was a nice long rest, and maybe something to eat. My stomach made a few noises as I shook my head to indicate that I couldn't remember a single thing of my life.

"Well, that is a shame. Here, have some porridge," My father told me as he placed a bowl in one of my hands, and a spoon in the other. I opened my eyes and concentrated on slowly shovelling the porridge into my mouth. "I suppose I better remind you of a few things, and hopefully they will jog your memory. After that I'll leave you to rest.

"Okay, we'll start at the basic things first. Your full name is Daniel Vladimir Masters, and you are nineteen years old. Your birthday is on the 12th of June. It is currently the year 2012, and the date is the 15th of March. I am your father, Vlad Masters.

"You grew up in Wisconsin, which is where we currently reside. But when you were fourteen we moved to Amity Park for a year because I was elected as mayor. Amity Park is a small town that was infested by creatures identified as ghosts, but there is no one left at Amity Park as there was a massive explosion there four years ago, which killed everyone except for us, as I had moved from there months before.

"You were placed under a spell by an evil ghost five years ago who made you fall into a deep slumber, and I have tried hard to wake you ever since then. I am extremely happy that you have finally woken. Anyway, as I was saying before that, ghosts inhabited the town of Amity Park.  
"You had no friends at this town, but that was only because you were home-schooled and had no chance at all to go out and meet new people, as we were important people. You enjoyed the life of a rich child, and you were quite satisfied.

"But after a few months at this new town, I was invited over to the house of an incompetent ghost hunter who was dragging his smart, wonderful, and beautiful wife down the wrong road – she was way too good for him. She obviously took pity on him, and tried to make him a better person but it was well-known that he could never be changed.  
"So I went along to their house, and took you with me so you could one day follow in my footsteps. There you met a girl who was a few years older than you, so she showed you around the house. She took you down to their basement and pushed you into one of the current inventions of that imbecile Jack… Err Jackson Gilbert.

"You were struck by the machine, and it would have killed you if I had not heard your screaming. I rushed into the basement and heroically pulled you from their machine, but I was too late. The blast had half killed you, therefore transforming you into the famous half-ghost, Danny Phantom.

"I helped to train you in your ways, and you became one of the most well-known hero's in the world. The ghost hunters, the Gilberts, were sent to jail for their horrendous crime against the mayors son, which is you.

"But one horrible night you were sucked into the ghost zone, which was the home of all ghosts in the world. You were held captive by an evil ghost who decided that he'd like to have revenge, and he stuck you in a deep slumber from which you just awoke. This was all when you were fourteen.

"I avenged you, but I wasn't quick enough – the damage had been done. Fearing for your safety, I escaped from Amity Park which was now being overrun by evil ghosts, and I acquired a house far off in an unknown forest in Wisconsin, which is where we are now."  
I had listened quietly for the whole time that he had spoken to me of my life, yet none of it really seemed familiar to me, just like he hadn't seemed like my father. I assumed that it would take me a while to remember this anyway, and to understand. My life seemed to be quite unreal, and I didn't exactly want to believe that I was a ghost, one of those make-believe creatures in children's stories. It just seemed easier to sleep and then slowly let my memory come back to me.

"I understand that this information may take a while to sink in, so I think it's best if I leave you to sleep for now. If you need me, please don't hesitate to press this big blue button by your bed that says 'dad'. But if you need any other services, press the green button and someone will come to you, okay? Goodnight, my son. Sleep well."

My father, Vlad, kissed my forehead and shuffled out of the room, turning the overhead light off as he went.

"Ghost…" I whispered uncertainly, looking at my hand. Sure enough, I was made of solid material, so there was no way that I could possibly be a ghost. "But what did he mean by _half_-ghost? Does it mean that one side of me is a ghost, one is human? Man, this is confusing."

I laughed tiredly, and closed my eyes. I stretched my legs and rearranged my pillows before going back to sleep, not even bothering to worry about the fact that I might not wake up again.

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All right, finally, I'm done. That took a while, since I couldn't be bothered writing. So, Vlad's lying, is he? Meh. That's all. I shall go. Hopefully I will continue writing some time soon.**

**Love Kirst…**


	3. Chapter 2 SAM

**Okay, I officially give you permission to murder me. What I was thinking, I don't know. I don't even know why I'm updating this story. It seems like it could be turned into something good, something emotional… and since Stephanie has left me for the night and won't write anything emotional, I suppose I will. But my number one priority is to finish "The Beginning". But I WILL write this story. I will finish ALL the incomplete stories that I have started… well maybe not changing fate. I don't like the idea of a million and two crossovers. I think I'll just rewrite that as a straight Danny Phantom fanfic. But I suppose you don't want me to continue to talk. I've decided to change the original plot :). This chapter focuses entirely on Sam :). I did actually write a chapter two, but it was only 200 words and ended with me going on about how amazing Princess Tutu was.**

**And I also realise that I've probably lost the few readers I have… but I hope you will come back. I promise to update. Kick me if I don't. If I don't update within five days, and you're into the story… send me a message or review with reminders to update and everything. I get forgetful :D**

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Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Two  
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**Sam**

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I had been awake for almost eleven hours according to the clock on the wall. I wasn't sure of the amount of time that I had spent sleeping, but I was well rested so it didn't matter to me. The room that I had woken up in was unfamiliar to me – but then again, so was everything. It was like I had totally blanked, and all my memories had disappeared.

I suppose it would've been a smart idea to call out, to see if anyone was near me, but I didn't feel up to it. I would rather be alone. And if there was someone else here with me, I'd rather that they found me when they actually _wanted_ to find me. They could be temperamental.

That could be a reason why I didn't remember anything about my life before I had fallen asleep. In fact, I didn't even remember falling asleep in the first place. If people had bashed me up, I could've suffered from temporary amnesia, and they might've damaged an organ in my head, sending me into a coma.

At least, that's what I thought it was. What else could explain such a deep sleep in which I distinctly remember having no dreams?

The door handle turned, surprising me. I wasn't sure if I should pretend to be asleep once again or just remain where I was. I had gotten up and stretched my sore, rusty limbs soon after I had awoken, and was now sitting on the opposite side of the room.

The door opened wide, revealing a young, pretty girl with honey blonde curls and liquid blue eyes. Her skin was gorgeously tanned, and all of her curves were in the right places. As soon as I saw her, I was instantly jealous. After a glimpse of myself in a full length mirror beside the bed, I decided that I looked like a rodent compared to her.

"Jessica!" The girl cried in relief, dancing towards me, tears flooding her beautifully deep eyes. "Oh, Jessica, you're awake!"

I tensed up as she ran towards me but once she had thrown her arms around my body I relaxed slightly. It was obvious that she was planning on acting friendlily towards me. And at least I had some information about my previous life – my name had been Jessica. I frowned as I thought about this. Jessica. It wasn't familiar.

I laughed nervously, feeling as though I was under a lot of pressure. "I, uh," I began, searching for the words I wanted to use. It felt weird talking – I must've been asleep longer than I originally thought. "I don't remember."

My words were slurred and I spoke slowly, yet this girl seemed to understand perfectly. "Oh, poor dear," she crooned as she pulled away and clasped my hands. "The doctor told us all about it. He diagnosed you with amnesia such a long time ago."

The tears were still running down her cheeks. I reached up curiously to touch one with my index finger and she let me, remaining completely still as if she were trying not to scare me. They were warm and wet. I hesitantly put my finger to my tongue, tasting the tear.

"Salty," I whispered. Surprisingly, the taste was familiar.

The girl laughed with delight, obviously happy that I was finally awake. "Oh, it's so good to have you back in the real world," she declared.

"Can you… explain?" I asked weakly, feeling a bit overwhelmed by her presence.

"Oh you must be so confused dear!" she cried. "Do you remember anything?"

I shook my head – it was too hard for me to speak.

"Not even my name?"

"Nothing," I whispered hoarsely.

"But it's me! Izzy! Your big sister!" she cried, upset that I hadn't remembered her. "We have so much fun together, Jess."

I just stared at her. After a few seconds, she shifted uncomfortably under my gaze and began to tell the story.

"Okay, so we have a small family. It's only me, Ben and you. Our parents died when we were all young. You're the baby of the family, Ben's the oldest, and I'm the middle child. Are you with me?"

"Yes," I replied. "Me, you, and Ben."

Izzy smiled at me. "If you want me to slow down or anything, just say so, okay? So we lived in an excluded area called Mazdan. There are few people who live here, and those who do are not affected by the modern world. People from the modern world own boxes that display moving pictures and lots of other worthless junk. We are superior to them – always remember that.

"We have great friends here. You loved your life – you had found the perfect mate and were about to be wed to him. But suddenly, you were attacked by a mysterious creature, one we had never seen before. You were driven into a coma, and we placed you here, hoping that one day you would wake up. And you did."

I looked around the room – at the empty walls, at the lack of decoration. If this was my bedroom, I must've been a very boring person. I didn't even own any photos or paintings. I looked to Izzy. "Mate? Who?" I was breathless and growing tired. Soon I would need to have another sleep.

"Oh, he is the most delightful boy. He has been so very concerned about you. His name is Jonathon." Izzy replied dreamily.

I could tell that Izzy was jealous of my mate. But then, who must her mate be? And what did Ben look like? Did he have a mate? How old was my mate? There were so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I couldn't possibly speak all of them. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy as I shifted my body so that I was lying comfortably on this couch.

"How long… How long have I been gone?" I asked in a hushed tone, my eyes closed.

Just as I fell asleep, I heard her whispered answer.

"Five years."

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I woke up some time later when the light seeped in through the window and shone directly in my eyes. _Wait… windows?_ When I had inspected the room I had first woken up in, I hadn't seen any windows at all – only the door that Izzy had come through.

I turned away from the window with a shock. Someone had moved me while I was sleeping. I was now in a brown room with many bamboo decorations, and there were many photos adorning my walls. One was of me and a very good-looking guy, his arm around me while I slept. Was this my mate?

I set up and looked at the closed door. Should I risk trying to open it, or would it be best to just sit where I was and wait for Izzy to come back. That is, if Izzy was even planning to come back in the first place. Maybe Ben would come to visit me, or even my mate… whose name I could not remember.

I laughed nervously. "We had been about to be wed, and I can't even remember his name. Such a good mate I am."

A part of me thought that it was quite strange that we called each other 'mate' instead of 'girlfriend' or 'boyfriend'. The same part of me screamed that there was something missing from Izzy's story, or that there was something wrong with it. But I just put that down as stress and decided if it didn't add up in the future, I'd ask someone else about it.

There was a knock at the door, and when I didn't answer it, it opened. There was a boy standing there with a slight goatee and smooth blonde hair. He had green eyes and a wide smile. In his hands he was carrying a bowl of soup – chicken, according to my nose – and a cup. He was the same person from the photo, my mate.

"Jessie," he whispered as his face lit up. He rushed towards me, as fast as he could with liquids in his hands. He put the bowl and cup down on my bedside table before throwing his arms around me. "Oh, god, I missed you so much,"

I felt myself grow warm inside as his arms encircled me. Yet I still could not remember his name. Instead of saying anything, I just smiled and inhaled his wonderful scent of… citrus.

"Oh, Jessie, Jessie," he cried, his body shaking. "Oh I love you so much, I love you. It's me, Jon!"

"Jon," I whispered his name.

My stomach grumbled in hunger, causing him to laugh. He pulled away from me and handed me the bowl of soup. "I only got you soup because I thought that you wouldn't be able to stomach much else yet," he explained as I cautiously sipped at it. "It's not very hot. I didn't want you to burn yourself."

I wasn't sure how he expected me to eat it, since I hadn't been supplied with a spoon. But maybe these people didn't use spoons. So where did the thought of using a spoon come from, or even that very word? I was even more confused, but I knew that I had to eat soon. My thinking was affected by lack of food.

Jonathon sat beside me, his arm around my shoulders, as I sipped at my chicken soup. It was delicious. I glanced up and noticed that he was staring intently at me, not wanting to take his eyes off of me for one second. Even though it made me feel slightly uncomfortable, I didn't mention that to him and instead put up with it. _He must really love me,_ I thought happily.

But the weird thing was that I didn't feel too much for him, or for anyone else. Was it because of my memory loss, or was I just not an emotional person?

"Jessie," he ran his hand down my arm as I continued to sip at my soup in silence. I didn't necessarily feel like talking to him. Part of me just wanted to be by myself. But I didn't want to break his heart. It was obvious that he cared very dearly for me.

I went to have another mouthful of soup but found that the bowl was empty. My stomach protested – it wanted more – but I knew that if I tried to eat too much, my stomach would protest even harder, causing me to be sick. I reluctantly put the bowl back onto the bedside table and picked up the cup.

The liquid inside was warm and sweet. I drank it appreciatively.

"Jessie," Jon said once again as I finished the drink. "Oh, I love you more than anything,"

He placed his hand beneath my chin and turned my head towards him. I widened my eyes as I saw his lips part and make their way towards mine. As our lips met in a kiss, a shiver of delight ran down my spine.

Though my body cried out for his attention, my heart screamed in pain. I could feel it breaking in my chest, though I did not know why.

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**Yeah. It sucked. But there will be more. The next chapter will be Danny's point of view. But first I must write at least one chapter for the beginning, and then I have to go to work, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up tonight, and if not it'll definitely be up tomorrow. I found it slightly hard to get through this, but I will force myself to write this story.**

**And if you think this was a terrible chapter and that the story is going down the drain and that I should just not bother, feel free to tell me :)**

**And… I can't really remember when this story was set. I think it was before Phantom Planet. But I'll decide when I get further in the story. But for now, Adios!**

**Loved from the Kirstyn and Her Vampire Elf Vines.**


	4. Chapter 3 DANNY

**Okay I apologise that it took so long to arrive, but I was rewriting Changing Fate (now known as Changing Their Fate) and updating Fenton to Phantom: The Beginning. But now I am one hundred percent dedicated to putting up the next chapter of this story. And then it will go back to me updating the beginning, and then changing their fate, and this story… wow, when school comes back I'm so not going to have time to do this. Maybe one chapter per three days. Luckily that's not for another week and a half :P And luckily I'm not working too much in the future. I just want to get these stories done as soon as possible without rushing them. But enough chitter.**

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Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Three**

**DANNY  
**

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"So, how did everything go, you great big hunk of manliness?" Maddie Bot Number One asked Vlad as he left the room that Danny was currently residing in. "I'm sure that you convinced him that you were telling the truth because you are oh so clever, and the best at everything you've ever done."

Vlad smiled to himself triumphantly. His new and improved Maddie Bot accompanied him down the long hallways and into his private lab. Numerous other Maddie Bots were waiting patiently in his lab, ready to praise him and ask for his approval. They were very successful Bots, this batch.

"It went fabulously," Vlad assured them as he dressed himself in a white lab coat. He walked over to one of the walls and punched his secret password into a small computer that resided there.

"I take it that the mind-control device that was created was satisfactory?" Maddie Bot Number Two asked as she pulled open the now unlocked door for Vlad Masters.

"It was extremely satisfactory," Vlad informed them. He entered the small white room and grinned. "That, along with the machine that all of my wonderful Maddie Bots created to dig into this dimension. If the Daniel child wakes up and asks for services, do not go to him yourself. Send the Veronica Bot to attend to him – you never know, you're beautiful face might trigger a memory or two."

The two Maddie Bots beside him giggled. He looked at them adoringly before planting a kiss upon both of their lips. They stepped back as he pulled a pair of safety goggles over his eyes and readjusting his ponytail – he didn't want any hair to escape.

"Now it's time to create some more havoc in the _real_ world," Vlad laughed manically. He pushed another button, this one bringing up a red portal. He glanced at the Maddie Bots and smiled warmly at them before stepping through the portal and disappearing from that dimension.

The Maddie Bots sighed before leaving the room. They returned to the computers that they had been assigned to. Their task was to create a torture device that would keep Daniel at the mansion forever, just in case his memory was restored somehow. If that happened, he would try to leave, and the Maddie Bots' invention would stop him.

It had taken five long years to perfect the device and hone it in on Danny's unique ecto-signature, but finally they were almost finished.

* * *

Danny woke up with a start. He had been having a strange dream about a girl who was somehow familiar to him. She had orange hair and blue eyes and dressed in strange clothes. She had been talking to someone close to her, someone like a sister. But there was something wrong with her. Danny had been trying to warn her of this but she hadn't been able to see him.

_It was just a dream,_ Danny reminded himself as he fought to control his breathing. He rubbed his eyes with his fists and examined the room that he was in once more. Though it had seemed amazing after he had first woken up, he didn't really like it any more.

He shrugged his shoulders and stretched his legs – he would explore his father's house. After all, it might bring back some important memories – and Danny was lacking these. He still wore the same pants from earlier and no shirt, informing him that no one had interrupted his sleeping body.

He walked over to the dressing table that was located near his bed. He curiously opened the top drawer and found some neat, folded white underwear. They were all the same – the same colour, the same brand, and the same size. He moved to the next drawer. It contained shirts. Most of them were white button up shirts, but there were a few other colours. They were all styled the same.

"How boring," Danny commented to himself. He pulled out a beige shirt and tossed it onto his bed.

Next, he moved onto the pants drawer. There was one pair of dark blue jeans – the rest were formal pants. There were beige pants, black pants, grey pants, and white pants. He skipped this drawer – it was too sunny to be wearing pants. The next drawer contained shorts – he pulled a black pair out and tossed it alongside the shirt. He pulled out a pair of underwear and began to get changed.

Once he was done, he glanced over at the full length mirror that adorned his wall. His dark black hair wasn't brushed and stuck up in strange directions. He would fix it later. For the time being he was focussing on his clothes. The shirt was oddly uncreased and smooth. It had blue righting upon the right side of his chest and had a ironed collar. The sleeves came down to his elbow – these he rolled up slightly. The black shorts came down to his knees and needed no adjusting. He decided to leave his feet bare.

"Now, to explore," he told himself mischievously as he snuck out of the room. He was surprised that the door wasn't locked – he knew that he wasn't supposed to be sneaking around the house. Maybe his father had thought he would be confined to his bed for a bit longer. Or maybe he thought that Danny would be obedient.

_I'll get away with it,_ Danny assured himself. _After all, I just woke up from a five year coma. He can't punish me yet._

He looked to his left and his right. There was nothing to distinguish one side from the other – both were seemingly endless and were decorated the same. Danny decided to take the right passageway – he could always explore the left one another day. He did not doubt for a second that this was an enormous house full of secret rooms. He would enjoy discovering them all.

After a minute of walking in a straight line – he passed about ten doors on the way – Danny reached a set of winding stairs. Now he had another choice – would he go up or would he go down? He chose up – it was more likely that he'd run into someone if he went down. And then they would send him back to his bedroom and probably lock him inside.

Once he got to the top floor he gasped. It was nothing like the floor on which his bedroom was located. This floor was large and spacious – it was obviously his Father's section of the house. There was an odd wall opposite Danny which he decided that he would inspect later. For now, he would snoop around his father's stuff.

He entered a small room set off from the spacious one – it was a bathroom. _No time like the present, eh?_ Danny asked himself as he examined his hair. He would need a brush and some water if he wanted to sort it out.

He rummaged through the top drawer and found exactly what he wanted.

* * *

Vlad surveyed his surroundings with satisfaction. There wasn't a human to be seen. Of course, as soon as he'd stepped through the portal into the real world, he had changed into his ghostly other half – Vlad Plasmius. After all, the dumber ghosts who possessed no mind whatsoever were programmed to attack any human being that they sensed, despite the fact that it might be their ruler.

"King Plasmius."

Vlad turned around and forced a smile upon his face. He didn't particularly like any of the ghosts – they weren't anywhere near as intelligent or cunning as he was – but he knew he had to put up with them. After all, they had helped him to take over the human's world. Kind of.

"What is it, Celestial?" He asked in a tone of annoyance.

The inferior ghost did not shrink underneath Vlad's impending stare. "We need more supplies for the sustainment of the Vortex," he informed his master.

"Ah, yes, yes we do." Vlad agreed. "I'll sort it out shortly. Inform the others that the prince has awoken."

"Yes, master." Celestial bowed low to Plasmius before flying off in a hurry.

"Soon," Vlad muttered to himself. "Oh, soon, he shall be my heir. He'll be under my control, and then we shall be unstoppable. I'll have to introduce him to Robo 123e5. But first, to come up with a name for it."

He sunk down to the ground. He was in the place that was once called Amity Park, but now did not exist. He observed the destruction that had been done to the town – the roads were all cracked and the earth was torn open. Everything that had once lived was now dead, and there were no humans in sight.  
Not even his beloved Maddie.

He sobered up as he remembered the moment that he had had to give up his treasure. She refused to part with the oaf named Jack Fenton and had sworn to drink a poison that she had concealed in her teal jumpsuit if Vlad forced her to leave her husband. Vlad loved Maddie too much to see her kill herself, so he had let her go without a fight.

But he had a plan to get her back. One day, she would be his.

* * *

Danny looked into the mirror once again, to admire his neat hair. It was still damp but it would dry nicely. He put everything back where he had found it and exited the bathroom. For the first time since coming into this part of the house, Danny observed the area around him.

There was a sitting around with two red, cushiony sofas and a massive widescreen television. He had a few game consoles but all were unfamiliar to Danny. There was an area filled with large video game consoles which Danny was delighted to see. In the far corner was an enormous bed that was covered in red satin blankets and satiny pillows. In the opposite corner was a spa, also red.

Most of the stuff in the room was red. But before Danny could admire all of it, there was a creaking sound from the suspicious looking wall. Danny ducked behind one of the sofas and peeked out at the wall. Standing in front of it was a female who looked so familiar to Danny that he felt the urge to approach her, to talk to her.

"Mum," he whispered. Though his father had mentioned nothing of a mother, Danny knew that this was true. But wouldn't his father have told him that he had a mother? The only people who were mentioned in Vlad's story were Vlad himself and Danny.

"Maddie Bot Number Three,"

The voice was his father's. He jumped in shock but remained hidden as another thought ran through his mind. If this Maddie was his mother, and she had seemed so familiar to him, why hadn't his father been familiar? Why were his stories unbelievable?

"I'll check on Daniel," his father told the robot. "I'd like you to run him a bath in the main bathroom, though."

"Yes, master." She bowed low and left the room.

Vlad walked past Danny without a glance to the place where he was hiding and entered the bathroom. Danny used this opportunity to make his escape. He raced down to the room that he assumed was his and entered it, out of breath. Luckily, the robot hadn't made it back yet.

Danny jumped onto the sofa and turned on his television as he heard a knock on the door. He didn't answer the knock, and the person on the other side didn't wait for an answer.  
"Daniel, you are up!" Vlad cried with delight.

"Dad," Danny began, not sure how to phrase this question without making Vlad suspicious. "You never mentioned it last night but… do I have a mother?"

Vlad bowed his head as though in prayer. "No, son, I'm afraid you do not. May I ask you a question of my own?"

"Of course," Danny replied.

"What were you doing in my private bathroom?"

* * *

**Okay that was a pathetically terrible chapter, I admit. But don't get angry. All i need to do is plan it out properly. And I'll do that tonight, I will. I couldn't do it last night because I was planning out my other story, but tonight's the night the teddy's bears have their picnic... And also the night that I'll plan this :) And then tomorrow night I'll plan out Changing their Fate. But yeah. And guys... I'm still waiting on my reviews... I've written over umm... let's think. 20,000 words in the past 4 days. Now come on. You guys have got to give me some credit. I haven't got a single review since I started writing again. Steph's reviews don't count. Stop being lazy. I'm doing something for you, now you do something for me. It only takes seconds. **

**Reviews. Now.**

**Kirstyn...  
**


	5. Chapter 4 SAM

**Oh god. I just realised I changed point of view – at first it was first person and now it is third person. I apologise. I like third person better. I think I'll stick with third person. But I apologise… After all, my other two stories that I'm currently writing are in third person and it just get so confusing. But yeah, from now on it should hopefully stay as third person.**

**Haha, I've got so many new word documents under random names, I forget which ones I use for which stories. Like I've got one titled "intentionally right blank" that I made ages ago that I use for Fenton to Phantom, and this one is called intentionally left right blank, and I have another one under vortex of deception, and then I have one for changing their fate called just an untitled doc and then… must I continue? I'm just stalling. I've been getting distracted each time I go to write this. Like, I was just randomly playing chords on my guitar before, and now I'm doing this, and I was eating cheesecake… which was amazing :) But I must concentrate.  
And guys? I know I've done it with my other three stories but I'm going to continue until something actually happens…**

**Review. Review or the next chapter, the chapter with more of Danny in it, will not come. And that would make you very sad now, wouldn't it? Cry? Oh wow I love the Hush Sound.**

**Haha. Anyway, not kidding here, I need your reviews.**

**

* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Four**

* * *

"Jessica," she whispered to herself the next day. It had a certain ring to it. She smiled as she glanced into the mirror, admiring her appearance for the first time she had awoken.

Her hair was long and a bright orange colour. It was naturally straight and thin. Her eyes were an unusual colour – purple – but she loved them. She was starting to think that purple might have been her favourite colour once. She had pale skin and wasn't overly skinny – she wasn't sure how, but her family had fed her while she was in a coma. It all confused her so much.

She hadn't even remembered going to sleep last night or even changing into her silky pyjamas. _It must be a result of the amnesia,_ she told herself.

She knew that she'd had a dream, a powerful dream during the night but for some reason she could not remember what it was. Every time that she tried to think about it, her head went fuzzy and her world began to spin. She decided that it was best to just let the dream go – after all, it wasn't like it was reality or anything. This here, this life that she was living was reality.

"Oh, Jessie, you're awake." The person speaking was an unfamiliar male. She wasn't sure if it was her brother Ben or someone else. Instead of replying, she smiled weakly.

He grasped her hand and whispered, "It's me, Ben."

She nodded slightly, showing that she could understand. She didn't feel up to talking – she would've liked to have a drink, though. She was parched, which made talking an impossibility for her.

"I'm so glad. I'd loved to stay and chat with you about what's happened over the past four years, but I really must leave. I've been ordered to go to the town over and retrieve supplies. You know what it's like, living in a remote town. I'll probably return in a few days, though. I love you," he planted a kiss on her forehead and walked out of the room.

She smiled at his hurried conversation with her. She froze with shock. Ben had just told her that he'd like to talk with her about what had happened over the past _four_ years, while Izzy had told her that she'd been in a coma for _five_ years. So who was right and who was wrong? Had someone just made a silly mistake?

_Yes, that's probably it._

It wasn't as if they'd be making up the whole story about Jessie falling into a coma. After all, they had proof that she had been in a coma – she knew deep inside that she'd been asleep for a very long time. And that was basically the same as being in a coma. Perhaps Ben just didn't think it had been that long.

Jessie looked around herself eagerly. She needed something to drink, and she was pretty sure that she had remembered… what was his name… her mate leaving a cup of water on her bedside table sometime yesterday. She felt awful – she still couldn't remember what the one who had fallen in love with her was called. Yet she didn't find it difficult to remember her sister's or her brother's name. Confusing.

And just as she'd expected, there was a cup of water on the bedside table. She leapt eagerly for it and pulled it to her lips. She ignored the cramps and aches in her body as she guzzled the water down. Unfortunately, the water didn't completely sate her thirst. She groaned as she heard her stomach rumble – she was hungry too.

She knew she wouldn't be able to walk, so how was she possibly going to survive? If she had an attendant it would be just that little bit easier, but she wasn't so lucky. Instead she would have to sit where she was and starve to death. It would've been easier if she'd died while in a coma.

There was a knock at the door and Jessie jumped. It was unexpected and had interrupted her thoughts. "Come in," she croaked, still unused to speaking.

The door was opened and a delicious smell wafted in. Once again there was soup, but sitting on another place was a hunk of bread. Jessie's mouth watered as she thought about that food. It was after she had examined the dishes that the person was carrying that she actually looked to see who it was. It was a middle aged man who she didn't recognise. _What a change. I can't wait until I actually recognise _someone.

"Jessie," he greeted her with a nod as he came closer and handed her the bowl of soup. It was pumpkin flavoured. "I doubt you will recognise me as we weren't particularly close before the attack. I am Robert, your teacher."

She blew on the soup as her eyes took the man in. He was slowly going bald, and half of his hair was grey. He had many wrinkles and dull grey eyes. She understood why he was a teacher – he looked like an extremely boring person. "Mm," she muttered as she dunked a hunk of bread into the soup and ate it – delicious.

"I've been sent to just remind you of all those things that you may have forgotten whilst in your coma and to answer any questions that you may or may not have." He continued, his eyes boring into hers.

"Go ahead," Jessie muttered as she continued to eat.

The teacher, Robert, pulled a chair over and placed it next to Jessie's bed. He slumped back in it and took off his glasses as if he were planning on going to sleep. "So, where to start?" He asked himself as he folded his arms.

"Well," he began. He seemed to be stalling. "First of all, the year is 2012. I'm not sure what you've been told by your siblings or your mate, but I'll just cover all of the basic information that I think you need to know. You've been in a coma for five years. In that time many things have changed.

"For a start, the head of the village – the person who makes the decisions – has changed. It used to be your father, back before he was killed in a heroic fight with some wild wolves. And then your oldest brother, Ned, replaced him. Now it is a local lad named Ollie. You and him used to be best friends when you were but wee little things.  
"We're not too close with the outside world, us here at Mazdan. But one thing we know of is the ghosts. Now, this may seem unbelievable, but many of the surrounding towns are infested with ghosts. We escaped because we were able to fight them off. If anyone ever left this place though, well, they were brutally murdered and their remnants were left in our meeting area. Was a terrible shame.  
"Ghosts are evil. They cannot be trusted. None of them, none at all, despite what they may look like, are to be trusted. Only us humans are the trustworthy ones, you got that? These ghosts are menaces to us all. I want you to keep that in mind in the future, okay? But there was one particularly pesky ghost that roamed a town nearby, a town called Amity Park.

"This ghost was Danny Phantom."

Jessie stopped shovelling the soup into her mouth as she heard the name. It sent a shock through her body – it was so familiar, and something important was connected to it. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared wide eyed at the old man. Who was Danny Phantom, and why was he the cause of such an outrageous reaction?

"Oh, you look terrified dear. You must remember all the stories of this horrid ghost. But don't you worry, child. Danny Phantom is dead." Robert assured her.

Jessie stared at him. Her body felt cold and frozen, though she did not know why. She felt tears filling her purple eyes and spilled over. She touched one hesitantly as it made its way down her soft cheek. Why was she crying? And what was this emotion that she was feeling, an emotion that made her think that she had been broken in half?

"Jessica? Jessie, you okay mate?" Robert asked. Then, he seemed to begin sweating. "Oh Christ," he muttered before saying a string of words that sounded… dirty to Jessie. She ignored him as he jumped out of his seat in panic.

Jessie looked up as she heard a banging sound coming from the door. Seconds later, it was knocked down and a group of soldiers swarmed into the room. _Hang on a minute… soldiers? That's odd._ Sam watched in fright as they hauled the pathetic, crumpled teacher to his feet and dragged him out of the room.

_What did he do to deserve such horrid treatment?_ Sam wondered curiously, though she felt no emotions for the old man, not even pity.

She watched as the soldiers left the room with his blubbering body in their grasp. As soon as they had left, her sister walked into the room. She didn't look happy – instead she looked powerful and determined, and perhaps slightly angry.  
"You married Ollie," Jessie concluded as she noticed the crown of bronze wire that adorned Izzy's head.

"Yes," Izzy answered coldly as she came and took the seat that Robert had previously occupied. Two attendants came in after her, one grasping a helmet and the other a bow and arrow.

"What did Robert do wrong?" Jessie was still crying, she noticed with a shock.

"He told you the wrong thing. But no matter, my darling _sister_. We shall rid you of that horrible emotion that you must be feeling right at this moment, okay? We'll make you forget that this ever happened. Does that sound okay?"

Jessie just nodded. She felt awful and would do anything to return to her happy, curious self. Izzy took the empty soup bowl from her and placed it on the small table.  
"Just relax, Jessie," Izzy commanded as the attendants stepped closer towards her. Jessie thought that she could hear a faint sound coming from a nearby room but ignored it. "We're just going to put this helmet on you. You're not going to be hurt,"

Izzy took the bow and arrow from one of the attendants while the other placed the helmet on Jessie's head. _The sound that I can hear is screaming,_ she realised.  
"What are you doing to Robert?" She asked in horror.

Izzy just smiled in response and aimed the arrow at her heart. Jessie tensed up but before she could move out of the way, Izzy let the arrow loose. Even as it pierced Jessie's heart, she could still hear the tortured screams of her teacher.

Never again did she come face to face with Robert.

* * *

**Man, this chapter totally killed me. Since I had no idea what would happen, I just really didn't want to write it. I kept getting distracted, but finally it is done :) The reason I got through it is because Steph, the mushroom that has returned to me, suggested that I plan it out :) And when I started to plan it out, i was trying to think of what Robert would tell her about the ghosts, and then I thought, oh my god, he can tell her about Danny Phantom and then the rest figured itself out :) I wanted to have a more dramatic end to this chapter, but I'm satisfied. I'll live with it.  
**

**Please, review. Give me your ideas. I'm stuck. I've got the last part of the story figured out, but until then I need to fill out a certain amount of chapters. And I want them to be as interesting as possible. So, as I asked before, tell me!**

**Give me your opinion. Help me with my story :)  
**

**Love from the one who is Kirstyn :)  
**


	6. Chapter 5 DANNY

**As always, I got completely distracted while writing this chapter. But it is DONE. :) And I am glad. The plan helped out a whole lot. Otherwise I would've been sitting around for years. But now I don't have anything else to write tonight, so all is well in the land of the Kirstyn. I can do whatever I want. Though I probably will start on Changing Their Fate chapter four. I won't finish it tonight, though. And since i have to work tomorrow, I might not have it up tomorrow... but as soon as possible, as soon as possible.**

**I'm glad to see that there have been a lot of hits to this story.**

**Where are my reviews, people?  
**

* * *

**Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Danny stared at his father in astonishment. How had the man known that Danny had left the room, let alone pinpointed the exact room that he had been in? And how was Danny supposed to answer such a question like that?  
"My hair…" he whispered uncertainly. "It was disgusting."

Vlad's features softened slightly as he looked upon Danny's regretful expression. He obviously hadn't figured out that Danny had been eavesdropping on his conversation with his Maddie Bot. Danny hoped that it would stay that way – he wanted to find out as much as he possibly could.

"Son," he whispered, opening his arms wide. "You're exactly like me."

Danny smiled and ran into his father's welcoming embrace. He was suspicious of the man – he knew that Vlad was hiding something important from him – but for the meantime he would have to pretend that all was well between the two. Danny hoped that he was a good actor.

"I know you went to such a _big_ effort to get your hair presentable for me," Vlad began. "But I was hoping that you would want to have a bath. I had one of our servants run it for you."

Danny grinned ecstatically. He had to be Vlad's perfect son. For now, at least. "Oh, father," he cried in amazement. "You shouldn't have! It'd be a dream come true."

"Oh, Daniel!" Vlad was basking in the glory of having a perfect son. "I have something I desperately want to show you! Have your maid, Veronica, show you to the dining room where we shall sit and enjoy a delicious meal together. And then, only then, will I show you the most amazing thing in the entire world."

"Oh, yes, Father. I can't wait," Danny cried.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Vlad called out a word that seemed to be from a different language. It must've meant come in, for in came another one of Vlad's robots, only this one did not look like Danny's mother. This one had long black hair and sky blue eyes. In fact, Danny could honestly admit that it looked like a female version of himself. Only it was older, perhaps by five years.

"Veronica, please show Daniel to the main bathroom." Vlad gestured at his son.  
The Veronica Bot turned her azure eyes to Danny and gave a small smile. "Of course, Mr Masters. Right this way, Daniel."

She nodded her head to the hallway and Danny reluctantly stood up. He didn't want to accompany this robot to the main bathroom – he'd been hoping that Vlad would trust him to find the bathroom on his own. Then Danny would've hid and followed Vlad when he had left Danny's bedroom.

"I'll see you at breakfast," Vlad promised his son with a smile.

_There's something about you… that's unpleasant. Unpleasant and familiar._ Danny decided as he spared one more glance at Vlad before following the Veronica Bot out of the room. _Definitely unpleasant. But what?_

* * *

Veronica had left him at the door. Danny would have been slightly creeped out and uncomfortable if she had accompanied him _into_ the bathroom.

When Vlad had called it the main bathroom, Danny had only just imagined that it would be a small, tiled room with a bathtub, a shower and a basin. He had extremely underestimated this room. It was huge – bigger even than Danny's bedroom.

The bath was the size of four double beds and was filled to the rim with warm water. Danny couldn't imagine what Vlad would need such a large bath for – it was just a waste of water. But it was comfortable – there were sections of the bath that were smooth, sections that were tiled and sections that were even cushioned with gel pillows. There was a separate section the same size that was for showering.

Danny didn't bother examining this area – he wouldn't be taking a shower today, and he'd have plenty of time in the near future to explore every part of this mansion. For that's what it was – it was no longer a house to him. It was way too big.

There was a large full-length mirror that ran all the way down one of the walls, and on the other wall were the basins, with small mirrors placed above them. Danny even had his own choice of towels – one in every different colour imaginable, and each towel had his initials sewn in gold thread upon them. And when he turned them over, he found that there was a different set of initials. One side read _D.M_ while the other read _D.P_. Danny would ask Vlad to explain it to him later.

When Danny had finished in the bathroom, he exited out through the door and found that Veronica was waiting for him. She had been waiting outside the whole time that he had been in the bath. But she was a robot so she wouldn't have minded.

"Did you enjoy your bath?" The Veronica Bot asked friendlily as they began walking to watch Danny presumed was the dining room.

"Yes," Danny answered simply. His mind was on other things, such as what Vlad was planning on showing him after breakfast.

* * *

"Here we are," Vlad announced proudly as he and Danny entered a large room that wasn't unlike a gymnasium.

"This is what you wanted to show me?" Danny asked sceptically.

It wasn't very impressive. It was just a large room that had unusually high metals walls. It was also sound proof, as Vlad had informed him upon entering. There was a control panel at the far wall, but other than that it was just a really big, unfriendly metal room.

"Ah," Vlad paused and turned to Danny expectantly. "No."

Danny returned the expectant look. "So… Um," he looked around himself curiously. "What was it that you _did_ want to show me?"

Vlad smiled boldly. "Ah, my boy, my beautiful son. It is today that I will show you how wonderfully alike we actually are. For there was a part in you, when the accident occurred, that was compatible with ghost DNA. That is why you were not killed in the blast. You inherited it from me. I will show you how to once again rise up in glory as my son, Danny Plasmius!"

Danny frowned, recalling the story that his father had supplied him with when he had first awoken. "Excuse me, father," he politely interrupted his father's speech of glory. "But I recall that yesterday you called me by a different name. You called me Danny Phantom."

For some reason the name was familiar to both him and Vlad. Vlad went pale for a moment before turning bright red. After he had put a leash on his emotions, Vlad smiled at the nineteen-year-old. "You must be mistaken. There isn't, and never was, such a being by the name of 'Danny Phantom'." He spoke the name as if it were a silly idea that should never be repeated.

"But," Danny interrupted, certain of his memory.

"No buts." Vlad smiled a toothy smile at his son. "You are Daniel – Danny – Plasmius. You always have and always will be Danny Plasmius. We're in this together, son."

_Yet another moment to add to the 'Reasons I am Suspicious of my Father' list. Maybe I should make a list…_

"Daniel, are you paying attention?"

"What?" Danny was brought back to reality by the sound of his father's impatient voice. "Oh, yes, of course."

"I am glad. After all, this is of the utmost urgency. If we don't activate the ghost inside of you within the next few days, he could be lost forever. And it would be like losing the other half of you." Vlad warned him.

_The other half of me… _A stabbing pain shot through his head as an image of a silhouetted figure entered his mind. "_Danny!" The figure cried out, begging for him to rescue her…_ Danny shook his head impatiently. It was nothing – he was just hallucinating again.

"Do you understand?"  
Danny nodded confidently. "Yes, sir, I mean father, I do understand."

Vlad smiled and bolted the metal door shut. "We don't want any disturbances," he explained as he saw Danny looking at him wonderingly. "Someone may get hurt if they just come in unaware of the occurrences in this room."

He walked over towards the control panel and gestured for Danny to follow him. It looked extremely complicated – there were dials that read "intensity" and "level" and many other adjustments. Nothing about the control panel even hinted at what it was that it actually 'controlled'. It was especially confusing, due to the fact that there was nothing in the entire room that looked as if it could be controlled by dials and buttons.

"This, my son, is what I shall use to train you to regain your ghostly abilities. It may be hard, since you haven't done any physical exercise for five years, but we _will_ return you to normalcy. And then we shall improve these skills of yours. All in good time, my dear boy." Vlad rattled on with a passion.

"I am willing to work long and hard on this." Danny assured him. "I will be dedicated to restoring myself to my original abilities. I will be committed to improving those abilities."

"I am glad to hear that," Vlad told him. "But, for now we must work on your actual transformation into Danny Plasmius. Each of us does this independently, and you may have a unique way of achieving your transformation. But until you remember the trigger, I shall go through it step by step with you."

Danny nodded to show that he understood and would comply.

"I want you to close your eyes," Vlad crooned softly and Danny obeyed. "I want you to actually _imagine_ transforming into something else. To _feel _it within your veins. And I want you to whisper out your favourite phrase – 'I'm going ghost'."

"I'm going ghost," Danny whispered obediently.

Two rings of bright light formed around Danny's body. They travelled in opposite directions as Danny felt a shiver going up his spine. He felt as though he wanted to cry out but instead kept his mouth clamped shut. When the rings had disappeared, there was a lightness about him. He felt as though he could float through the air. And that was because he could.

"You are now Danny Plasmius," Vlad announced proudly.

* * *

As soon as Danny hit his soft mattress he was asleep. He was worn out from lack of physical exercise – and he and Vlad hadn't even begun to train yet.

_There was a girl sitting in the corner of a dark room, glistening tears cascading down her two soft, pale cheeks. She looked lost and frightened, not to mention alone. She threw her hands up to cover her ears as if to block out painful sounds. She winced as she realised that these sounds were coming from inside her head, not outside._

_Her long, orange hair was held back from her face by some sort of leafy ribbon and her sparkling amethyst eyes seemed to look straight at him, pleading him to rescue her. Her hands came away from her ears helplessly and she screwed her eyes shut._

_Danny concentrated and discovered that he could hear the sounds that tormented her ever so much. He could hear a man screaming. He seemed to be in much pain and Danny even drew the conclusion that he was being tortured just from the tone of the screams. Each scream chilled him deep into his bones._

_Soon, the screaming was filled with silence. The girl looked up thankfully, thinking that Danny had been the one that had gotten rid of the sounds. But instead of helping her, it seemed that Danny's presence just made things worse.  
A crack of light appeared and then flooded into the room as a door was opened. Right in the patch of light lay a man's body, covered in blood and bruises. He was dead. He wasn't familiar to Danny but this girl must have recognised him because her hand flew to her mouth in horror._

_Seconds later, the man's body was removed and the door had been shut again.  
"Who are you?" Danny wondered aloud._

"_I am Jessica."_

_The image faded, to be replaced by another. This time, it seemed as if Danny was having an out of body experience. He saw himself – only he was younger – talking to someone who was covered by dark, omnipresent shadows. No matter which angle Danny stood at, he could not see this girl's face._

_Suddenly, the girl began to scream as she was torn away from Danny. He reached for her but found that his arms weren't long enough. He cried out in despair – he called her name – but it had no effect on the situation. The girl was ripped from him, from his heart, and vanished into oblivion._

Danny sat up with a start in his bed, a name on the tip of his tongue.

"Sam," he whispered as a rogue tear slid down his cheek.

* * *

**Ahh haha. I hope that was such an ending that made you think OH MY GOD!! DOES HE REMEMBER! And then, hopefully you'll review with the same question. And hopefully you'll realise that next chapter belongs to Sam, so you won't figure out until the chapter after. And then you'll realise that I update faster if I get reviews.  
So reviews?**

**Loving you but I am completely numb, I hate dentists.  
**


	7. Chapter 6 SAM

**Okay guys, this is PATHETIC. Why no reviews? It's not that bad. I mean, I hate writing this story, but I think it is at least worthy of perhaps one review? And it's going to get better from now on. I mean come on, Danny just whispered "Sam?" in the previous chapter. Don't you want to find out what happens in the next chapter, which in fact is Danny's? Because you won't find out if you don't review. The reason I hate writing this story is because I don't get ANY reviews at ALL. I can't be bothered writing this story. But I write it for my own sake now. So if you may perhaps want this story to go on (because, let me tell you, it gets way better) then you'd better review. You guys are not motivating me here.  


* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Six**

* * *

When Jessica slowly cracked open her eyes for the first time that morning, she was disconcerted. She couldn't remember a single thing from the day before. She knew that she had done something, had woken up and gone about her day, but she couldn't remember any details. She couldn't remember what she'd had for dinner, and couldn't remember what she had spent the entire day doing.

All she could remember that was even remotely connected to the day before was a strange dream that she had had. She had dreamed that she was sitting in a dark room, crying over the death of something familiar yet at the same time completely unknown. Despite how hard she might try to rack her brain for more details of this death, she couldn't bring anything up. It was as if this thing had never even existed.

There had also been a boy. But he had been in the shadows – she hadn't been able to see his appearance.

"Jessica?"

She looked around herself in a daze as she heard her sister whisper her name. "Izzy, where are you?" Jessica muttered.

Her sister's anxious face came into view. Her honey blonde curls were a mess and there were rings beneath her azure eyes. She looked as if she had been awake all night, stressing over something. Jessica was mostly worried but also slightly curious. What had happened that had turned her sister into such a wreck?

"I'm here, darling sister." Izzy whispered, her tired eyes relieved.

Had Izzy been worrying about Jessica all night? But that must've meant that something terrible had occurred either during or before she went to sleep. So why didn't Jessica herself remember? If something terrible had happened to her, shouldn't she at least feel the after effects?

"What's wrong?" Jessica sat up in her bed – there was no pain. The only strain she was feeling was in her eyes because she had just awoken.

Izzy smiled dismissively. "Oh, it's nothing. You just gave me a bit of a scare, that's all." Izzy assured her baby sister.

Jessica rubbed her eyes sleepily as she looked around her bedroom. It was becoming slightly familiar to her now. "But how did I give you a scare? Oh Izzy, I don't remember anything and it's so terrible!" Jessica cried. "Please, please tell me. I'm so torn."

Izzy's relieved expression now turned into one of panic. "You don't remember anything? What do you mean? But… you recognised me! You recognised your own name! Oh Jessica dear I don't understand you at all," Izzy cried.

"I don't remember anything from yesterday," Jessica explained calmly. "I don't remember last night. I don't remember why you're so freaked out. Please do explain."

Izzy was no longer panicked. In fact, she had recovered from her sudden outburst quite quickly. "Oh, Jessica, I am so glad to hear that! Oh, it was nothing. You just started screaming last night, and then for a while you stopped breathing. The doctor just said it was something to do with the memories you will begin to regain the near future. We're all so glad that you didn't die last night."

"I can't believe I almost died…" Jessica whispered to herself, staring into the distance.

* * *

Isabelle Gretchens left the room as Sam Manson began to get changed into slightly decent clothing. Isabelle frowned and yawned – she was not being paid enough to do something like this. It was both mentally and physically exhausting. At least another pawn would take over her job for a few hours while he trained Sam to fight like a warrior. Isabelle knew that it was pointless but they had to keep the game of charades as real as possible until the vows were said.

The vows were the most important detail in this little scheme. Without them, there would be no certainties.

Isabelle removed the wig of blonde hair from her head – she had had to keep it on for the whole night as she had sat at the child's bed and now there was a rash beginning to appear on her scalp. Underneath her hair was naturally dead straight and as black as ashes. She ran her fingers through her hair like a comb and shuffled away from the prisoner's room.

After all, she wouldn't be able to explain why she had black hair when Sam's was the colour of the early sunset.

She walked slowly down the long hall, avoiding the gazes of the people that she passed. She was not a very friendly person. She was the leader of this so-called village but she had never even spoken to the man who was her own 'brother'. In fact, he hadn't been paid to be a big role in 'Jessica's' life.

They were all actors on a set.

The pay wasn't very good but there was no way that they could back out of it now. After all, where could they possibly go? The ones that they loved were in a completely different place, and were unreachable by the actors. They had been foolish to allow themselves to be hired for this so-called 'movie'.

Isabelle knew that her wages were pathetic. She knew that she deserved to be paid more than a mere janitor for the role that she was to play. She had even had to use her own energy to supply that stupid mind-erasing helmet. That was why she had been so exhausted when Sam had woken up. She had had to make up some bogus story on the spot and hope that the memory-less girl would buy it. She had.

Many times Isabelle had almost made careless mistakes – many times had she almost called the girl by her real name. But she knew that she couldn't afford to make mistakes – after all, look what had happened to the poor man named Robert. He had been killed because he had merely mentioned the name Danny Phantom. It was horrifying.

She finally reached the end of the hallway and arrived at a massive redwood door. There was an enormous gold star painted right in the centre of the door. Isabelle took a deep breath, raised her fist – and knocked three times. She waited patiently at the door despite the racing beat of her heart. She wouldn't let herself be intimidated by this person, despite his cruel demeanour.

The door swung open slowly and Isabelle swallowed loudly as she realised that there was no one on the other side – the door had opened itself. Although it may have been an automated door, Isabelle didn't think that that was likely. After all, many strange things happened around her boss.

"Isabelle."

She didn't react as she heard her name being called out from a nearby room. It was dark and hard to see but she managed to make her way towards the direction of the sound. She felt herself enter a cold, musty room that smelt oddly like mushrooms. There were a few candles burning confidently, scattered around the room, supplying the room with only just enough light to make out the silhouette of a man.

She bowed low before hesitantly approaching him.

"Isabelle, my dear, please, take a seat."

The man lit another candle, this time one directly in front of his face. The man was Vlad.

* * *

Jessica had been taken from her bedroom as soon as she had gotten changed and had been led directly to a patch of sunlight for the first time since she had awoken. Or the first time she had remembered. The grass was bright green and neatly clipped. She had the urge to lie down and roll around in it but assumed that it would not be permitted.

She had been accompanied by a large, stocky man with long red hair and a red beard. His face looked as though it would be forever dirty, even after a good scrub. He carried a long sword in a sheath around his waist and daggers in his wrist guards. He hid two small daggers in his boots and in his shirt. He had shown Jessica all of these weapons upon meeting her. She had been instantly terrified – she had predicted that he had come to execute her. Luckily, he had been wrong.

He had come to tell her that she was to be trained as a warrior by he himself.

"Jessica," he growled at me as he led me towards a small wooden hut. It looked as though it were about to fall down. "I will outfit you properly before we begin. You will not touch a weapon until you have passed a series of short yet incredibly important tests. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Jessica saluted him.  
"None of that, now," he muttered gruffly. "None of the saluting, that is. I am only your instructor, not your leader. Salute at someone like, I don't know, Ollie. And none of the sir. When you address me, you address me as Redbeard."

"Yes, master Redbeard." She knew that it was necessary to show her obedience and did so proudly.

"I suppose that'll do for now." He rummaged around inside the small hut for a while until he had finally found what he had been looking for. "Hope it fits."

He tossed something at her which she caught with a grunt. She held it up in front of her and grimaced in disgust – it was a sweaty pair of brown pants and a filthy white shirt. She reminded herself that she must show obedience and meekly raised her hand.

"What is it?" Redbeard demanded before spitting onto the ground.  
Jessica looked at the gob of saliva in disgust. "Um, master Redbeard, may I ask where I would possibly be able to change?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Fine. I'll turn my back. But if you're not changed in twenty seconds, too bad."

Jessica stared at him in horror. She couldn't imagine having ever lived in such a manner – where the boys and girls intermingled so carelessly. When she thought of her life, she imagined nice, modern rooms with modern people who wouldn't let a girl and boy sit in a room, alone, for more than two minutes without getting suspicious. And now she was expected to change in the big wide outdoors?

But she wearily did so. As soon as he had turned his back, she stripped off and put on the never-washed gear that he had given her. She wasn't sure what to do with the clothes she had originally been wearing so she just left them in a pile on the grass.

"Okay, that's twenty," Redbeard turned around and settled is eyes upon Jessica's delicate face. She looked as though she had never done a day of hard work in her entire life. "Okay, these tests are just going to consist of running and jumping, basic stuff like that. We're just planning on restoring you to your previous abilities for the next few weeks. After that, if you do not recall everything already, we may consider teaching you to fight. But it's only a possibility."

Jessica smiled at him nervously. She herself didn't know what her abilities were. She didn't know if she was a talented runner or talented at lifting up heavy objects. She wasn't sure about how far she could throw or how high she could jump. And unfortunately, she had had no preparation time.

"Okay Jessica, first we must warm up. Do you remember our methods for warming up?"

"No, master Redbeard, I don't." She answered clearly as she stared into his dark brown eyes.

He rolled his shoulders until he heard one give a satisfactory pop. "Okay, well today I suppose we'll focus on your running skills. So we're going to have to warm up your legs, for a start."

* * *

Jessica was hot and sweaty by the time Redbeard had finished with her. Her legs and her back ached – all she wanted was a nice hot bath to sooth her painful limbs. But instead of being granted that one wish, she was instructed to change back into her everyday clothes and quickly neaten herself up – Izzy was about to give an important announcement.

Jessica was led back to her room where she changed into new clothes – her old ones had grass stains on them and were slightly wet – and retrieved her hair brush. She ran it through her bright orange hair and grunted in disappointment. It was not going to cooperate with her. She desperately needed to wash it.

But there was no time for that. A knock came at her door as she was ordered to return to the yard. Once she arrived there, she saw a small gathering of people and nervously approached the group. One member, her mate whose name she could not remember, saw her and his face lit up with happiness.

He walked over to her and greeted her with a kiss just as Izzy called for quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she announced in her melodic voice. "I have come here today to proudly announce our wonderful news. In but two weeks our fledglings, Jessica and the Young Knight Jonathon, shall be wed. This is good news, people, and I offer the happy couple my congratulations."

_Happy?_ Jessica's gut was a roiling pit of sorrows. The prospect of marrying this Jonathon was not only scaring Jessica, it was also hurting her. She winced as she felt a knife go through her heart.

* * *

**I'm not going to hold my breath until I get a review. That'd be stupid. But please. One? Just one. Only one of you has to actually get off of your lazy butt and say something. And I don't even mind if you tell me how much you hate this story. At least it's a comment. Constructive critism, people!? I need it. Desperately.  
These Danny Phantom stories are like exercises for me. I need to get into the habit of writing once again. And then I will write proper stories. How exciting. But first, I want to get my average words per story up to 10,000...**

**Review.**

**An aching backed achilles tendon Kirstyn.  
**


	8. Chapter 7 DANNY

**Yeah I died and wrote about nothing a lot in this chapter. And... I don't remember what I wrote about... I wrote it so long ago... ah well.. I don't think it was a good chapter. But Sam's comes next... and oh, I don't remember what happens in that. OH but I think the next Danny chapter is where it gets... interesting. I'm not going to drag this story out. It may be a bit rushed. But I really can't be bothered dragging this story out. Anyway. I think that you should read on! And my loyal reviews, I address you and the non-loyal reviewers here,**

**PLEASE REVIEW!? :D**

**:) Okay. Well. Here it is!  
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* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

When Danny opened his eyes he was confused and slightly disoriented. The light that invaded his bedroom informed him of the time of day – it was no longer night but morning. He had remembered waking up in the middle of the night and calling out someone's name. He remembered the name clearly – Sam – and it evoked some pretty strong emotions from him. But he couldn't place a face to the name and couldn't remember anything else about this Sam person.

He couldn't ask his father about her due to his lies in the past. He had lied about Danny having a mother and he would likely lie about Danny knowing a girl named Sam. There was something about his past that Vlad didn't want Danny to remembered, which made Danny even more eager to find out what it was. The most that he knew was that he had felt pretty strongly for Sam but she had been taken away from him. He didn't know how or why, or even by who, but he knew that she had left unwillingly. It had broken his heart.

"Who are you?" he whispered into the silent morning air but didn't get an answer. He hadn't expected one.

He looked at the alarm clock that he had been given by his father yesterday. Vlad had told him that he was to meet him in the training area at ten o'clock in the morning for more training. He had also been told to make sure that he was presented neatly and had already eaten.

It was only half past eight so Danny had plenty of time to fulfil his father's wishes. Vlad planned on holding training sessions with Danny daily at exactly the same time that were all exactly the same length – two hours longs. Vlad had told Danny many things yesterday after they had practised changing their forms, including the fact that Danny would get free time in the afternoons. But once Danny improved and got used to the routine they would move up to four hour long training sessions. Danny wasn't particularly looking forward to this idea. He was already exhausted from _transforming_ for but an hour yesterday – he couldn't imagine what four hours of actual _fighting_ would do to his energy or his body.

Danny yawned and decided to haul his body out of bed. After all, he wouldn't accomplish anything by lying around and thinking. He might remember something but it wasn't likely. He couldn't just sit around waiting for things to happen – he had to make them happen himself. He wouldn't have time to explore Vlad's mansion this morning for any more clues of what his father was keeping from him but he had all afternoon to himself. He was sure he could sneak about. After all, what else was there to do? He could watch television but it just seemed so _boring_ to him.

He opened his drawers and pulled out various clothes – he didn't worry about looking neat in his clothes today because he would soon be transforming into Danny Plasmius, who had his own special jumpsuit. Though Danny found it hard to believe that he was called Danny Plasmius – when Vlad had talked to him when he had first woken up the name Danny Phantom had seemed so familiar, while Danny Plasmius just seemed… wrong. But what would he know? _I'm only a kid who has amnesia. I don't know anything, _Danny thought bitterly.

He left his bedroom and was unsurprised to see Veronica standing guard outside his door. _Maybe it won't be so easy to explore the house, after all… but I do so love a challenge, _Danny thought eagerly as he nodded to the robot. Vlad didn't trust Danny after the previous day's excursion into Vlad's little bathroom. Danny was surprised that Vlad hadn't pieced things together and realised that Danny had been eavesdropping – after all, Danny had asked Vlad about having a mother only minutes after Vlad had had the conversation with the Maddie Bot.

"Where is it that you wish to go, Mr Masters?" the Veronica Bot enquired politely.

Danny didn't have to think about his answer at all. "I'm just going to have a bath," he informed her before heading in the direction of the main bathroom. Despite the fact that he'd only been there once, Danny could remember the way to the main bathroom perfectly. He seemed to have a good memory – after all, he _had_managed to find his way back to his bedroom the day before. And it had been the first time he'd left it, so that was pretty good.

Danny entered the main bathroom without another word to Veronica. He would be polite to the robots but that was where it ended. He didn't want lifeless beings for friends and they would probably report his behaviour directly to his father. He didn't like the idea of his every thought being made public knowledge. Danny didn't know why he was behaving this way – he didn't know why he was so suspicious of his father. It was just some strange instinct – perhaps Vlad had betrayed him once or twice in the past. He wouldn't know until the memories came back to him – Vlad wouldn't tell him the truth when it came to that area.

He quickly removed his clothes and eagerly slid into the large bath. Yesterday he hadn't had much time to examine the bath but this time he had at least thirty minutes. And this time he discovered that there were little jets implanted in the wall – he could turn the bath into a spa. The only thing he had to do first, though, was find the controls. He assumed that they'd be somewhere near the bath – he couldn't imagine his father or someone that rich wanting to get out of the bath to turn to spa on. The controls had to be reached from within the bath.

He looked around himself hopefully until finally he spotted five or so different little knobs around the side of the bath. He swam over to one and turned it to "MAX" and sighed as the jets whirred and powered up. He returned to the wall, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Danny fortunately woke up with barely enough time to dress himself and eat before he was due to meet Vlad for training. Vlad hadn't asked Veronica to guide him to the training room – she had left him while he was in the kitchen eating some cereal for breakfast. Vlad's chef had offered to cook him a nice, filling meal but Danny hadn't felt up to it. He knew he should have eaten something that would sustain him throughout his physical workout but he just didn't have enough time and his stomach wasn't very happy with him.

Vlad was waiting expectantly when Danny opened the door to the training area. He still thought of it as a gymnasium but Vlad had explained that the control panel over in the far wall could create simulation ghost attacks and various obstacles could appear from the walls or the floor or even the roof. The metal was to keep all the ghost energy in and to protect the other residents in the mansion – Danny assumed that Vlad was talking about his servants when he had mentioned other residents. The metal was also ghost proof so none of the ghosts that they unleashed in this room could terrorise the household.

"Ah, Daniel, just on time," Vlad greeted him with a smile but no other fatherly gestures – he didn't even hug him or ask him how his morning had been. Apart from the first day or so with Vlad, he didn't seem to be very fatherly. He seemed to be more interested in Danny's ghost half than his human half. It made Danny feel kind of unimportant.

"Today we shall focus on creating ecto blasts from our hands. In the future I will show you how to fire them from other parts of your body, such as your feet, your eyes, and other certain areas." Vlad began slowly. "But before we do that, transform."

Danny didn't have to concentrate anymore or even speak the words that Vlad had given him yesterday. Instead he just stared at Vlad and willed himself to change. He almost broke into a smile as the bright rings appeared but he decided to keep his expression of effortlessness on his face – it would make his achievement seem even greater.

"Bravo, Daniel, bravo!" Vlad clapped his hands as he too transformed into his other half.

While Danny looked slightly human as a ghost, Vlad was exactly opposite. For some strange reason he looked like a lizard crossed with a vampire who had ghost powers. It just didn't work out for the old guy. Where Danny's skin was a nice tanned creamy colour, Vlad's was a blue-ish green. Danny had bright glowing green eyes and Vlad had ruby red eyes with no sign of whites at all – just like a strange animal. His hairstyle was like Dracula's and his teeth were even pointed. It all backed Danny's theory of Vlad being a cross between a lizard, vampire and a ghost.

"Now I want you to hold your hand out in front of you like such," Vlad held his hand out with the palm facing the wall. Danny wordlessly followed suit. "Okay, now I want you to focus a lot of energy right in the centre of your palm. I want you to imagine it growing hot with this energy until finally it is released in one single beam. Got that?"

"Yes, father." Danny nodded and squeezed his eyes shut as he did as Vlad had told him.

When his palm grew hot with the energy, Danny opened his eyes and imagined a beam being extracted from his palm. Nothing happened.

* * *

After many strenuous attempts and an hour of practising, Danny was finally able to fire a small, weak ecto-beam at the metal wall. Vlad seemed to be growing impatient but clapped his hands when he succeeded in firing the beam. After that it grew a bit easier but Danny still had trouble with it, and it was quickly zapping his energy.

"Enough!" Vlad cried as he transformed back into his human form. "You may enjoy the rest of your afternoon – you have free time."

Vlad left the room in a hurry as though he had somewhere else to be. Danny decided that now would be the best chance to follow Vlad – Veronica wouldn't have shown up just yet and Vlad had strode purposefully out of the room. Danny returned to his human form – Vlad had told him that each and every ghost had a certain sense that could detect any other unliving creature nearby and Danny didn't want to risk the chance of being caught – and left the room. He ran down the long, narrow hallway until he was a few metres behind Vlad's figure.

His father was heading down a secret passageway that Danny hadn't known had existed before now. He eagerly crept down the passageway after Vlad, grateful that there was hardly any light in there – that way, he could hide in the shadows. Vlad took a few tricky turns as if he was trying to lose Danny but the younger boy was able to keep up.

Finally Vlad arrived at a section of wall that looked oddly suspicious. Danny soon found out why – it was a secret doorway. He ducked in as it began to close and flinched – there was light in this room. But thankfully no one was looking at him and he had enough time to quickly duck behind a conveniently placed large potted plant.

Danny peered out and almost gasped – this room was full of computers and Maddie Bot's that were working at these computers. The fact that they were hidden behind a secret door was the only thing that made Danny suspicious – after all they could just be running Vlad's security system or something.

"Maddie Bot Number One," Vlad called out. One of the Maddie Bot's skipped over to him and placed a kiss upon his cheek. "How goes the device?"

"It is currently being calibrated. It shall be ready soon, my wonderful sexy master."

Danny shuddered in disgust.

"That is good news," Vlad announced loudly with humour in his voice. "Soon, Daniel will have no choice but to remain with me."

Danny narrowed his eyes – he was _definitely _suspicious of his father.

He widened his eyes as Vlad transformed into his ghost half and Danny's ghost sense went off, sending shivers crawling down his spine. But Vlad didn't notice his son hiding behind the potted plant. He was busy doing something with his arms. Suddenly, a big red hole appeared in the middle of the room. It was like Vlad had cut out a part of the atmosphere and this was what was beneath.

Danny was startled as his mind flashed back to a time before his amnesia came about.

_He was standing in an underground lab with two shadowed figures and was staring at something. It was a swirling green hole in the wall that he knew as the portal into the Ghost Zone._

Danny's eyes snapped open as he realised what the big, red, swirling hole was. Vlad had created a portal into another world – one that Danny had never seen or heard of. It definitely wasn't the ghost zone. Vlad didn't look back as he stepped through the portal and into a different dimension.

* * *

**Yeah. The ending sucked. I just couldn't make it sound juicy enough! Haha. What... is this song? Oh, never mind. Anyway. I think it would be a very good idea to review (i am nodding at the computer screen)... Oh god but this story is hard for me to write. In the past week I've developed a strong hate for Sam - NOOO! She used to be one of my favourites - and since I can't watch Danny Phantom for a few days, I can't make that hate disappear. But I'm trying to be nice... ish to her in this story. But you can't really be nice to her. OMG, I JUST REMEMBERED WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! I am glad because I am the one writing this story and it'd be a bit hard to... well, to write if I didn't know what it was about.**

**Anyway, I have more stuff to post so I better cut this short. Next chapter will come in 100 hours, sorry. I'm updating less frequently due to the return of school. I have much to do. I'll see you when I see you...**

**Review! :D**

**Love from a Kirstyn Person.  
**


	9. Chapter 8 SAM

**Well, hello my peacocks! I have my next chapter which I just wrote out so very quickly because I realised I'd gotten distracted and watched tv for 3 hours, played my guitar for 1 hour and... done something else for that last hour... wait hang on I wrote for the last hour :D haha... And so yeah, I once again have forgotten to do my homework. Four sheets of Japanese homework are waiting for me (glares at the homework) and a four movies are waiting to be watched, one book to be read, and all of them need to be written about (double death stare) and I probably should practise my saxophone... BUT INSTEAD I WAS DEVOTED AND WROTE THIS CHAPTER! Haha. I got a bit distracted towards the middle. At first I was trying to fill a certain part with 1,000 words and then I realised that I wouldn't fit all that I wanted to fit into this chapter but oh well :):) Okay.**

**And I'm going to put this on all my stories because it's happened a little bit... **

**I've told a few of you nice reviewers that I would go and read your stories and review about two weeks ago, right? And you haven't got any reviews from me, right? I'm sorry :D I haven't gotten around to it yet! I've just been writing like mad in my free time and I've needed a bit of relaxing or something. And then I've gone to read you peoples stories and I've seen how amazing they are and it makes me feel terrible so I stop reading because if I feel terrible (because I suck at writing) I will stop writing and I reallllly need to finish a story since I haven't written a story in about a year. But once again, I apologise! You should ALL hear from me one day soon. Just not tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday :)**

**Okay, well, without further ado I present to you, Sam's chapter... I may have made a few mistakes, if there are any really bad ones in there please tell me...  
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* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Eight**

* * *

Jessica had spent her entire afternoon wandering aimlessly around the small village that she had lived in before she had been attacked by a ghost. Well, according to her sister Isabelle. Not one bit of this village had she found familiar, not one place that she instinctively knew. If there was a particular place that she wished to visit she would have to ask one of the locals. And of course, she didn't recognise a single face in the crowd.

The village was small yet the population consisted of five hundred people, which she had been told was a lot. After all, out in the normal world they would have only fifty people located in such a small place. Due to the size of the village there was constantly a crowd wherever Jessica went. Everywhere, that is, except for the forest.

There was a mysterious forest located off to one side of the village – a forest that she was forbidden to enter. It looked as though it was haunted by some angry spirit – either that, or it had been assaulted by an out of control forest fire. The trees were all blackened and burnt, the vegetation lifeless and miserable. Even if it wasn't prohibited, Jessica would hate to enter this forest.

There were a few public huts where villagers could gather to pick up supplies – she had been told that this village had no type of currency and that everything was free – and plenty of meeting places. There was a public bathhouse – it was unisex – and even a relaxation hut where you could be pampered by those who volunteered inside. But other than that, there weren't many other wooden shacks.

No one owned their own little house, though. They all lived in one large wooden building in small rooms quite like Jessica's. This had all been told to her by a kind villager who had seen her looking around herself, quite confused. He had led her on a tour through the entire village – which had taken less than five minutes – and then had left her to stand by herself.

The sun seemed to be setting because the sky was turning a pale peach colour. She wasn't able to confirm her prediction though as there were many tall trees surrounding her on every side. It was if the entire village was completely isolated from the entire world. She felt slightly like she was being kept prisoner. _I'm being stupid,_ she told herself sternly and began to laugh shakily.

She spun around as she heard a twig snap behind her. She had found a nice peaceful area where she could be left undisturbed, a place where there weren't any crowds. But the only reason that no one was there was because they were all preparing for the evening meal around the bonfire. It was a tradition, according to that villager. She would be expected, but she wouldn't have to show up until the sky became black and the stars unveiled themselves.

"Who's there?" She asked, her voice sounding small and weak. She received no answer – there wasn't even the sound of someone shifting nervously or a footfall of an approaching being. It had gone completely silent. She knew that she hadn't imagined the sound of the twig cracking, though.

She turned back to face the nearby forest yet she looked out of the corner of her eye to try to catch her sneaky follower in the act. Surely enough she saw a shadow move behind her and there was a gentle swish of grass as the person crept behind better cover. She was careful not to let them know that she had spotted them – she didn't know what their purpose was yet, or who they were. If she let on that she knew more than they thought, she could be killed. She decided to follow her instincts and keep quiet.

That had been one thing she had discovered on her first day out of bed – despite the fact that she had been allowed to explore the village on her own, she was never truly _alone_. She had always had the strange feeling that someone had been following her, that someone was always watching her every move. And she was right – they were.

With a sigh she turned around and headed back to the main cabin where her bed was awaiting her worn out body.

* * *

She sat around the campfire, feeling quite awkward as she looked around at all the gaping faces. Izzy sat on her right and her mate whose name she still could not remember sat on her left. These were the only two familiar faces out of the whole town – excluding the man she had met earlier and her physical trainer – and it was only because she had met them since waking up. There were no memories of them locked away in her mind. At least, none that she could find.

Izzy lifted her goblet triumphantly without spilling any of the rich red wine that it held. "I would like to propose a toast to my darling little sister," she declared as her face was lit up with a heartfelt smile. "We've missed you oh so much Jessica and are thankful that you have found your way back to us. It is our hope that you will soon be back to your old self and will regain all of your memories."

The crowd cheered as those old enough to drink the luxuriously sweet wine took a sip from their goblets – you had to have lived to see fourteen summers to do so. Jessica looked hesitantly at her drink and wrinkled her nose as the aroma hit her. She looked to the others and saw that they were gazing at her expectantly, waiting for her to take a drink. She reluctantly raised the cup to her parted lips and drank a small mouthful. She almost choked on the wine – it was bitter and unpleasant. Everyone else seemed to like it, though.

"Thank you for being so kind," She whispered shyly as she looked down at the flickering fire. The heat that was radiating off of it was causing a sweat upon her delicately pale skin. "All of you."

"Oh, Jessica." It was her mate once again.

_Is that all he can say, my name?_ She scorned him bitterly before she realised that she was doing it. For some reason, she didn't feel attracted to him. She didn't feel as though he should be the one that she would be wed to. And she definitely didn't feel that she was in love with him.

He placed a hand beneath her chin and turned her head so that she was looking into his eyes. _Oh, but his eyes are so interesting… they're drawing me in…_ she blinked a few times before looking away. It was as if his eyes were placing a spell on her. _Stop being foolish. That is both impossible and idiotic._

He leaned closer to her face and smiled lovingly at her. He truly cared about her, yet she found herself slightly repulsed by that idea. She was stringing him along when she knew that her heart didn't belong to him. _But who could it possibly belong to?_ Yet another question that was to go unanswered.

"I love you," he whispered so that only she was able to hear.

She felt his lips press against hers and waited for the excitement that she had felt in her body last time that he had kissed her. It never arrived. His soft lips pushed at hers passionately and she responded only to be courteous. She officially had no romantic feelings for this man – if she did it would probably be easier for her to remember his name. She had been told it continuously but not once had she remembered it for more than five minutes.

She pulled away before he could deepen the kiss, reluctant to continue making contact with him. She felt slightly overwhelmed by all of this – the disappearance of her feelings, the traditions she was so unused to, the different faces and most of all, her non-existent memories. She picked herself up from the log that she sat upon, leaving the area surrounding the campfire.

* * *

She heard footsteps approaching her – these did not sound suspicious – but didn't look up. She felt a curious solemnity creeping over her. She neither felt glad nor sad and the reason behind her feelings was unknown. She needed time to mull something over – though it would really help her if she knew just what that something was. What was it that bothered her?

"Jessie," It was Izzy. "What's wrong?"

She looked to her older sister as Izzy took a seat beside her upon the slightly damp grass, her skirts spread out around her. She wondered if she should voice her thoughts to someone she should trust but found herself suspicious of. "I don't know," she confessed. She wasn't going to tell her the whole truth – that she did not love the one she was to be wed to – but she would talk to Izzy.

"Ah," her sister seemed uninterested. "Can't help you with that."  
"What is a union of two like, and what does it entail?" Jessica asked quickly before her sister could stand up and leave her. If that had happened, she wouldn't have had the courage to ask the question at a later time.

Her sister smiled kindly. "Oh, it is a beautiful day. The night before there are a few rituals that we women must perform, of which I will speak to you at a later time when it is more relevant. On the morning of your union, you are to be purified in a private bath. We will outfit you in only the best – for you are my younger sister – and then the ceremony shall commence.  
"You must write out a short speech of your feelings and your pledges to Jonathon," there it was, the name of the person she was supposed to be in love with. "And we will have the village leader, my partner, lead this ceremony. Afterwards you and Jonathon will be led to our room for the newly united. Once there you will enjoy a romantic evening during which a child will hopefully be conceived, so that you can increase the population of our village." Izzy finished explaining the process.

Jessica blushed. She didn't want to conceive a child with that man. But then another thought, another question, came to her mind. "Why are you childless, sister? When were you and the leader united?" she was curious.

Izzy turned her head away from Jessica. "I was unable to conceive a child." She answered simply, allowing a small amount of bitterness to creep into her voice.

"Oh," she muttered, unsure how to respond to such a statement. Should she apologise for being so intrusive? "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Izzy's mood was once again light and flippant – she seemed to have locked those darker thoughts of hers into another part of her mind, a part that she would confront at a later time. "Was there anything else that you wanted to know?"

Jessica had to think over it for a moment. "What happens after the union? How will my life change..?"

"It won't change dramatically until further down the track," Izzy assured her. "But hopefully you will be carrying a child, so you will be taken care of by the local midwives. You and Jonathon will occupy a joint room liked all of the other wed couples but it will not be any bigger than the room that you are already inside. You will not be allowed to be in the presence of other men unless accompanied by a female or Jonathon. I'm pretty sure that is all for the moment. If Jonathon has any other desires, he will so tell you."

"Is there a way to… prevent myself from conceiving a child?" Sam didn't like the idea of getting into the same bed with the man, let alone taking her clothes off and giving herself over to him fully. She didn't want any part of him inside her. But the thought of birthing his child was even more unappealing.

Izzy laughed as if Jessie was making a hilarious joke. "Oh, don't be silly!" she cried out in delight. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"No reason." Jessie mumbled to herself, disappointed.

"Ah, there you are."

The voice was unfamiliar and belonged to a male. Both Izzy and Jessica looked up as they heard the owner of the voice approach them. It was an old man – a man about thirty summers older than her sister. Jessica had a rotten feeling in her stomach as Izzy leapt to her feet.

"Oh, I didn't realise you were coming!" She stuttered as she joined hands with this man and placed small, gentle kisses upon his face.

"Neither did I," he admitted cheerfully before turning towards Jessica.

"Oh, how rude of me!" Izzy cried shakily. "I forgot to introduce you. Jessica, this is my mate and our village leader, Ollie."

Jessica didn't reply – she was too shocked to even nod her head to acknowledge her sister's words. She had noticed something about the man that her sister was in love with, something unpleasant and foul. It was extremely suspicious.

_This man was a ghost._

* * *

**That seemed strangely very short, even though it is my average chapter length - 2,300 words ish. Either that, or my word count is stuffed up. Ah well.  
Oh wow I have an amazing announcement!**

**Okay, so get this. In an average book there is between 80,000-120,000 words, okay? And in the past two weeks, guess how many words I have written? 90,000! I'm so close to reaching the 400,000 mark on the "total words archived" bit! I was actually shocked. I have been writing on and off for the past year, mainly random stories involving Vampires and Elves and Vampire Elves (I admit that I am obsessed) But I've never written much. For some reason, Danny Phantom fanfiction is so easy to write. But anyway, there is my amazing accomplishment! And my average words has gone up 2,000 words :) Which is good since each time I update it goes up about 80 words... But yay! **

**Oh such a shame I must turn off my computer in two minutes. But I will write Fenton to Phantom tonight before I go to sleep because then I might be able to write two chapters for tomorrow. And then I'll be closer to finishing that story (it has a max. of hopefully 5 chapters to go) and then I will have more time to work on this story and Changing Their Fate :) And that will be good. And when I have finished these two, I will rewrite more of my other stories. I had a few good ideas, but man... the writing is terrible (cringes and drops dead). **

**Oh and guys? If you're reading this story... Does ANYONE at all know of any REALLY GOOD thriller MOVIES?! I have to do a genre study, and I chose thriller and I can't decide on my movies. It can't be the Bourne Identity or Silence of the Lambs (I am analyzing the books) but if anyone has any suggestions I'm taking them! Also, fantasy movies (that's my next genre study). So, if anyone feels up to submitting some movie titles, PLEASE! I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL!**

**Oh my god. I haven't had coffee tonight. WHAT THE HELL!? THE LAST SENTENCE DISAPPEARED AGAIN! IT ALWAYS DOES THAT :'( I HAVE LOST MANY GOOD CLIFF HANGERS BECAUSE OF THAT! Okay. I want coffee but I'm staying away from it I only had a little bit this morning. But I'm going to go and turn my coffee machine on right now so I can make some coffee and freeze it :) It's always better when it's cold.... for me. Oh, damn, I'm in a chatty mood and I must leave. Farewell for now, my people! I'll talk to you later :) Next update comes in 2-3 days (I hope).**

**GOODBYE MY FELLOW... I'm hungry... MY FELLOW HUNGRY LITTLE CHILDREN!  
**


	10. Chapter 9 DANNY

**Haha... I'm sorry :) I've had the busiest week and I just couldn't be bothered writing this. I wrote the first 1,300 words on paper but only typed up the first 400 words onto the computer. I typed the rest+ finished the chapter in the past hour. And I don't know if i'll update this story tomorrow or in a week. Or maybe in 6 days. I've just been so busy this week, what with working monday, tuesday and thursday, and then having band on wednesday and mother's day shopping on friday... and man, I was so exhausted. Had so much homework to do and everything. But once again, sorry :) Enough excuses, I proudly present to you chapter nine. Unfortunately I drawled on a little bit and then I didn't end up at the place I wanted to be. But ah well, I'll get there in chapter 11. For now, it's time to write the next chapter of changing their fate! ... but before I do that, I must go mother's day shopping once again!  


* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Nine**

* * *

As soon as both his father and the portal he had conjured up had disappeared, Danny decided that it was a reasonably good time to use his ghost powers. Earlier, it would have been hazardous but now that Vlad was no longer in the same world as Danny, he concluded that it was relatively safe. He didn't bother to transform into his ghost self – Vlad had told him that his powers were accessible even while in his weak human shell. There was only one obvious problem – the strength of his powers was diminished. But Danny didn't need an excessive amount of power to turn himself invisible.

He was careful to keep from making a sound as he snuck out of the bizarre room – although he couldn't be viewed by the eyes of humans and robots alike, he could still be heard. He hadn't thought to ask Vlad about the possibility of him having an ability that muffled his sound and Vlad hadn't thought to mention it. But even if there was such a power, Danny knew that he was unable to summon it – yet.

Once he had retraced his steps to the training room, Danny decided that it was a decent time to retain visibility. But once that small feat had been accomplished he grew uncertain. It was only barely time for him to eat lunch. He had hours upon hours of free-time and nothing time consuming to entertain himself. He wanted to snoop around the house for hints of dirty secrets and scandals but with Vlad suspicious he wasn't altogether sure that that was a good idea.

_It's so hard to call him father or dad, _Danny realised with a start. _It just feels so… unnatural._

He decided that for the time being he would wander hopefully towards the kitchen in search of something to sate his hunger. His stomach was rumbling dangerously loud – he was surprised that it hadn't given him away while spying on Vlad. After he had found something to eat he'd surely think of something that would keep him occupied for at least a few hours. The thought of returning to his room to watch television seemed so drab.

It took only a short time to reach the huge kitchen. He scoffed at the size every time that he entered – it was bigger than even the bathroom. He was alarmed to see that the kitchen was abandoned – there wasn't a single living being in the entire room. Not even a Veronica – or Maddie – Bot, eagerly awaiting his arrival. It was also quite surprising that there wasn't a single chef in sight – he had been sure that they'd been given strict orders to remain in the kitchen at all times. Despite the fact that he'd only been to the kitchen a few times after he had woken up, never had it been so deserted.

_Perhaps there was a fire or something…_

He decided that for whatever reason that the kitchen was empty, he would bypass it. It could be a hazardous zone. Another reason why he walked past the kitchen was that he couldn't have his midday meal while it was empty – he had no one to serve him. He wasn't quite sure how to prepare or cook the food that he wished to eat. Vlad would most likely tell him that cooking was one of the many skills he'd lost during his five year coma. Either that, or Danny had never successfully cooked a meal in his life – after all, he had servants to do all of these chores for him. Why would he have bothered to learn to complete such mundane tasks?

He could remember the exact path towards his bedroom. He didn't even have to stop to recall the images – instead he just let his feet do the walking. He let them take control and lead him back to his room. His eyes roamed the walls for anything that could possibly bring back a lost memory or two of his. It wasn't until he saw a giant widescreen television aligning the wall that Danny stopped walking. It wasn't even because he recognised something or it had brought back a long lost memory – oh no, it was because of the words that were printed in big, black, bold letters upon the monitor.

_**Red Alert! Subject Daniel has been registered as vanished. To learn more on this alert, please press the centre button…**_

Intrigued, Danny searched for the centre button. As mentioned, he found it in the centre of a small control switch at the bottom of the television. There were only three buttons – a yellow button, a white button and a pale blue button. Danny followed the orders of the screen and promptly pressed the white button.

_**This is a high alert,**_ the monitor read. _**It requires ALL employees, servants, and robots to drop ALL of their assigned tasks. Their new task is to find the subject. This task must be completed within the shortest amount of time possible. Once subject Daniel's location has been determined, it is required that EVERYONE BUT the one to find subject Daniel returns to their regular duties. If subject cannot be located, a scan must be completed of the area within a 300 mile radius. Subject Daniel must be found at all costs. Penalties for failure to retain subject are severe. It is crucial that he is not set free.**_

As Danny read through the instructions his jaw dropped in horror. He reached the end of the explanation with only one thought in mind – he was subject Daniel. He was a subject. That meant that he had absolutely no freedom whatsoever while inside this house. The Veronica Bot must've appeared outside the training grounds to find that there was no Daniel in sight. She would have waited for a minute in case Vlad and Daniel were late, but once Vlad was sighted in the control room Veronica must have given the alarm. It was as if Danny was a prisoner in his own house. It was his main priority to found out exactly why this was.

* * *

Danny had been spotted. It wasn't as if he had tried to hide or anything; he'd just avoided those who were in search of him. After all, he didn't exactly know what they would do to him once he was found. There was one thing that he knew for certain, though – the Veronica Bot would trail him once again. She wouldn't let him out of her sight at all in fear of failure and severe penalties. He had wanted to search for suspicious rooms such as the earlier one that Vlad had entered, but with the Veronica Bot watching him so closely that would be impossible.

Surprisingly, the encounter went fairly well. Danny didn't get hauled off to some cramped, dripping cell while screaming his promise for revenge. Instead, a passing male servant just pressed a small button on the wall and began to converse with Danny.

"Young sir Daniel," He began as his eyes roamed the room for inspiration for an interesting topic. "How have you been feeling lately? Have you recalled anything? Is anything or anyone in this house familiar to you yet?"  
Danny decided it would be best and least conspicuous if he continued to conversation. "Unfortunately, the only person familiar to me is Vl… I mean, my father." He corrected himself hastily. He had to remind himself that he was trying to remain inconspicuous during this conversation.

"Such a shame," The man looked as though this news personally affected him. The thought was preposterous. "Say, would you care for a relaxing massage? You look to be sheerly exhausted."

Danny suppressed a groan of longing as the servant made this offer. He would have loved to have a wonderful, tension-relieving massage but unfortunately he couldn't afford to waste his time on such luxurious activities. Although he had plenty of it – time, that was – he needed to look for evidence of suspicious activities concerning his father and the rest of the household. And besides, he had no idea whatsoever of the time that Vlad would return to the house. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm afraid I must decline." He apologised sincerely.

"Daniel!"

It was the Veronica Bot. _Perhaps I could destroy each and every one that is sent to me… _Somehow, Danny didn't think that that would work out. Vlad would question him about his reasons for destroying things that cost so much money. He would also ask why he was being so violent. How would Danny respond to those questions?

"_Yeah, you're keeping something from me and with these robots following me I can't sneak around to find out the truth"? _He knew straight off that it wouldn't work.

"I have been looking for you, Daniel," She informed him with a smile. Her expressions betrayed nothing of the panic – that must have been programmed into her – when she had been searching for him. Her very robotic life had been threatened. "You just disappeared."

"Yeah, sorry." Danny was trying to be polite but he knew that he didn't have the time to just stand around and talk to a robot all day. "When I left, you weren't there so I went to the kitchen, and no one else was there so I made my way this way. I don't know. What was going on?"

"Oh, it was nothing." Her tone of voice informed him that she would not accept any more questioning. "So what is it that you wish to do for the rest of the day?"

Danny had had an idea. He had realised that the Veronica Bot _never _entered his bedroom. She was possibly under strict orders when it concerned his personal space. So if he went into his bedroom, he could easily turn himself invisible and walk right on out again. Of course, he wouldn't transform – the house could be rigged up with ghost detectors for all he knew. After all, in this house you had to expect the unexpected. A lot of crazy things had happened since Danny had woken up, and he knew in his gut that these things were not normal.

"I'm just going to go to sleep. I've had an exhausting morning."

* * *

Danny closed his door on the robots face before he sighed with relief. She hadn't offered to go into his room or to tuck him into his bed. Instead she had bid him goodbye just outside his door and had embraced him warmly. He had gone rigid at her touch – it was smooth and metallic – but had encircled her in his arms to rid her of any suspicions she might have. He was glad to be free of her company.

It wasn't as if she were the worst thing in the world to hang around with. She made cheery conversation and stayed silent at exactly the right time. But he couldn't think of becoming friends with a _robot_. It was programmed to do Vlad's bidding and was probably giving him reports on Danny's behaviour. Besides, she wasn't alive. Danny just couldn't bring himself to feel comfortable in her presence.

He pulled a few clothes from his drawers and scattered them around the floor. Then he put some bundles of clothes beneath his bedcovers – they would stall anyone who thought to enter for a few minutes. It could give him a few more crucial minutes worth of searching. It could also save his butt. It looked like he had truly gone to sleep.

He inspected the room quickly to make sure that it wouldn't give him away upon first glance. He then realised that with all the clothes on the ground, it would be strange if there weren't any shoes to be seen. After all, if he hadn't put his clothes away, why would he put a pair of shoes away? Danny was glad that he had noticed that. He placed a pair of worn-looking shoes near the couch before turning invisible and stepping out of his bedroom.

* * *

**I absolutely hate the Veronica Bot. I don't know why, but I just really do hate her. I think the male servant will play a greater part in future chapters but I'm not so sure. I can't remember where I left my plan so I'm semi stuffed. After all, the book that has my plan in it also has the plan for changing their fate... but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. Okay, so guys, it'd be nice to hear from you once in a while. Care to submit a review via that button that I KNOW you can see? Because I just couldn't be bothered writing this story this week and if you say something about the chapter, it might make me write a little bit faster. After all, I haven't written very much of this story. One day I'll find out exactly how much. But i've still got at least 20 chapters to go. I have a feeling that this will be my longest story to date. Anyway. Enough of the chit chat. :) I hope you enjoyed! Yummm, green cordial... iced coffee is better though...**

**REVIEWS, PLEASE!?**

**Love from my foot is asleep...  
**


	11. Chapter 10 SAM

**Flash, ahhh, saviour of the universe! Flash, ahhh, he'll save every one of us! Haha**

**Good day, my people! The reason I updated today was because I was totally motivated to write! This chapter was soooo easy for me to write, and I wrote half of it last night before I went to bed :) I also really want to finish these stories because I'm dying to make a DNAngel AMV to tallulah, it's eating me up from the inside. And I have such a busy busy life. Haha. Well, I'm hoping that this is a good chapter and will have you begging for more because I need reviews people :'( Only 11 reviews? That's weak! It's not that bad a story!! Sure, I may be dragging it out and talking about nothing but I'm only practising so that I get better at talking about nothing! And you can compate this chapter with Sam's first chapter, and you'll see how much I improved in only a few weeks. I was rusty when I started. But anyway, soy sauce ahoy! I mean, read ahead! I'm a bit distracted because I'm talking to my friend about this AWESOME story he is going to write. Otherwise I shall kill him...  
**

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* * *

Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Ten**

* * *

Jessica's discovery must have been made obvious to the other two by the expression she unconsciously wore on her face. Ollie seemed to scowl as he perceived the look on her face as frightened. Jessica could feel her entire body tensing up with this cloud of fear that threatened to overwhelm her. Her mind was urging her to run but her body would not comply. There was a part of her that instantaneously recognised the malevolence in this man and warned her to be wary of him. Unfortunately, her feet were planted into the soft, moist ground preventing her from making a getaway.

It seemed that Isabelle was able to sense the hostility that Ollie was shooting towards Jessica, and the fear that was emanating from the poor innocent girl. She decided that the only thing that she could do was to intervene, to try to lighten the atmosphere surrounding the three.

"So, how about we return to the campfire?" Izzy suggested anxiously as she wrung her hands.

_Perhaps Izzy isn't as cruel as I thought… _Jessica thought absently to herself. After all, her older sister was defending her against someone so terrifying. And what was more was that this terrifying being was her mate. It was evident that Izzy didn't know the truth about the one she was wed to – she didn't know that he was a ghost. It was only a few seconds after the thought that something registered in Jessica's brain.

_Hang on… _Jessica was confused. _Cruel? Huh? Could this… could this possibly be a memory of some kind? _The thought caused a great excitement to stir in her body. But with that excitement came along an unexpected sense of dread. Was Izzy actually a cruel person? Had she done something truly horrible to her younger sister? Or could it possibly be that she had done something terrible to someone else? The very thought horrified her.

Meanwhile, as she had been considering her thoughts, reality continued to run its course around her. Izzy had just suggested that they return to the campfire where there was a large crowd of people who could possibly be used as witnesses if something _were _to occur. She was smiling hesitantly at him, trying to convince him of her relaxed image. It wasn't working, though. She tugged playfully at his arm as she shifted her feet impatiently.

His behaviour towards her was not unexpected but completely despicable. He angrily slapped her hand away from his skin as though she weren't worthy enough to touch him. Then, he grabbed at her wrists and drew her close to him. Due to the distance between Jessica and the two, she didn't manage to hear the words that he whispered to her, but she could feel the benevolence in his voice. Once he had finished spitting at her, he shoved her away from him as though she were a useless puppet. He hadn't intended Isabelle to be so pathetically weak though; he had meant it as a warning. Unfortunately, Jessica's older sibling ended up in the mud.

Jessica itched to reach down and offer the filthy Izzy that she had grown up with a hand but knew that it would be a foolish idea. Despite the fact that she wanted to help her sister in her time of need, she knew that if she tried she too would be punished. She would achieve nothing if she too ended up lying in the mud with Ollie towering over the two helpless girls. There was nothing that she could do to save her sister now. She just hoped that Izzy was a strong woman who could prevail in the hardest of situations. She needed to be able to do as such if she were to remain the mate of such a barbarous lunatic.

"That's my sister that you're throwing around," Jessica growled possessively. She was seething with built up anger as she met Ollie's forbidding eyes. "And your mate. Grow up and show some respect, you pig."

All three of them seemed to be quite surprised by her sudden outburst. But there was a great difference between the surprise that they all felt. Their expressions were all completely different – Ollie was infuriated, Izzy felt pitiful and Jessica was feeling extremely regretful. Isabelle was wise – she obviously knew of Ollie's short temper and had worked hard earlier not to ignite the bomb. She didn't envy the amnesiac. The look of horror that Izzy gave her caused Jessica to instantaneously regret her decision to speak. She had allowed her temper to get the better of her. She wouldn't make that mistake again – that is, if she lived past this horrible experience.

"I think _Jessica _and I need to have a little chat," Ollie was furious. His quite voice told of all the withheld anger that he felt towards Jessica. She knew that in the near future he would let the torrent of feelings loose. "Alone."

This seemed to really frighten Isabelle. Jessica herself was scared out of her wits – her body had frozen up and she was finding it difficult to breathe. She knew that her punishment would be severe. She could sense the impending doom as Ollie looked down at her. She knew that it was possible that she could die.

Isabelle knew that her sister would face terrible consequences for her actions but did not argue with her mate. She didn't even linger to try to calm Ollie down and to stop him from harming Jessica. Instead, she stood up and turned to face the campfire. After she took a deep breath she picked up her skirts and fled, leaving Jessica and Ollie alone.

* * *

Long after her sister had disappeared through the copse of trees, Ollie continued to stare distastefully at her. His eyes roamed her body critically as though surveying how worthy she was. Despite the many ways she tried to stop herself from feeling uncomfortable with his sickening eyes, she couldn't prevent the feeling from creeping up on her. He was just repulsive in so many ways.

His hair was silver with a few miniscule patches of a black-grey colour. It was tied with a piece of string and appeared as though it had not been washed in many weeks – it was coated with grease. His eyes were a dull, unappealing blue colour and his skin was covered with a layer of dirt. He had wrinkles running along his forehead and bags beneath his eyes. All in all, he wasn't a very attractive man.

She still couldn't find the courage to run and didn't possess the amount of stupidity it would take to break the tense silence. It was clear that Ollie made all of the rules in this place and ran the village with a firm hand; unlike other leaders of distant towns, he was not just a figurehead. She could understand her sister's fear of him. She didn't hold a grudge against Isabelle for marrying the man; she could understand that her sister had no choice in the matter. If she had declined his proposal she would surely have been killed by the man.

"Jessica, Jessica, Jessica," Ollie began with his weathered voice. He no longer seemed angry at her – instead he was smug. It was as if he knew some sort of inside joke. "You've been a bad little girl."  
Jessica didn't respond to his taunts; she couldn't have come up with something appropriate and would have instead retorted rudely.

"And you know the truth about me," It was only an assumption but the fact that she went pale as soon as the words left his lips confirmed it. "You knew when you first saw me."

Once again she didn't respond.

Ollie didn't wait for a response, either. Instead, he grinned wickedly and clenched his teeth together. Jessica felt her heart pound in her chest as two dark rings appeared around his waist, two rings that were slightly familiar. She knew that she had seen them in her past but she couldn't remember where or when.

She felt dazed as the rings travelled in opposite directions and transformed Ollie into another person… into another _thing._ She knew instantly that it was not human. It was some sort of green skinned monster out of the bedtime stories she'd surely been told when she was a young child. He had fangs, ruby red eyes and raven black hair. His appearance made everything ever so obvious to her – Ollie was definitely evil.

Suddenly, a sharp arrow of pain was shot through her brain. She cried out as she was flooded with images, with _memories _that she had thought lost. She crouched upon the wet grass as everything locked into place. She was not a girl named Jessica and Isabelle was not her sister. In fact, she had never seen Isabelle in her life. And the creature – the _ghost _– hovering in the air above her was not Ollie; it was Vlad Plasmius.

She was Sam Manson, and she was in love with Danny Fenton.

_Danny… _She felt tears well up in her violet eyes as she thought of the person she had only recently remembered. How could she have forgotten someone so important to her? And… how could she have forgotten that terrible day when he had been ripped from her. _Danny, my love… is dead._

She could remember it perfectly now that her memories had been restored. She had been with Danny in his lab; they were just talking – she had never confessed her love for him – when suddenly there had been an attack. It was a ghost that they'd never faced before that was accompanied by Danny's foe, Vlad Plasmius. She had been mauled by this unknown ghost and had drifted in and out of consciousness occasionally. But she had been wide awake when the ghost had stuck a blade through Danny's heart.

_Oh… Danny… _He heart cried out in mourning for him. But she could not fully grieve him for she was feeling slightly disoriented due to the swift return of her memories. She could barely think straight yet she knew that she only had one option. She had to escape into the forest so that she could get away from Vlad and this creepy village before they could ensnare her once again.

She shakily stood up and looked up at the man who claimed to be called Ollie. She knew that she had to act oblivious, as though she didn't know the truth about him. She couldn't look at him hatefully for causing the death of the one she loved but instead had to cower with fear when in his presence. It would be a hard task for even one as talented at acting as her.

"What do you have to say, now, Jessica?" He was smug. He was referring to her outburst earlier but she just ignored him with her eyes lowered. She knew that this was her only chance.

Before Vlad could utter another word, Sam Manson ran for her life.

* * *

She collapsed upon the damp ground as she struggled for breath. Both her sides and her legs ached from the long, breathless run but she was satisfied with her progress. If she could find a large bush that she could hide herself in she was certain that Vlad wouldn't find her. He wouldn't think a measly human such as her was capable of running such a distance in so short a time. Little did he know that she was the best runner in her entire school.

The tip of her nose was chilly as she crawled about in the forest, the moon's face unable to shine down through the treetops. The world around her was pitch black yet she managed to keep from running into any obstacles or injuring herself. The most important thing now was that she didn't make a noise. Noise travelled far throughout such a silent area.

Suddenly she heard a growl behind her and spun around in panic. The winds rustled the trees and conveniently allowed the light of the moon to seep through their branches. What Sam saw did not bode well. For standing in front of her was a large, silver wolf with massive white fangs. Spittle dripped from its lip as it slowly advanced.

Sam screamed as the enormous wolf lunged for her throat.

* * *

**Eee heee Sam is BACK! Haha, I got really excited when I got that idea. So come on, you want more and more and more! And soon, one day in the future... I won't tell you :) I'm thinking this should be about 30 chapters, I really don't want to have to write more than that but I will if I must. I will get this story finished, and I will not rush it. Man and I want soy sauce. It's amazing. So is iced coffee. Ahhh I love coffee I made the best iced coffee the other day yum. And for all of you who read Changing Their Fate... I am trying to write the next chapter at the moment. I hope it will be up tomorrow afternoon but it might end up being the next day. Will be up ASAP. I have so much homework, haha. I wish school didn't go for as long. I don't have enough time to do ANYTHING. And all my friends think that I spend all of my time sleeping... haha.**

**Well, please do REVIEW**

**I apologise for any spelling, grammar or other errors in the writing. As always, am too lazy to edit.**

**Love from my soy sauce of Iced Coffeeneesss!!!  
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	12. Chapter 11 DANNY

**Hi guys! Before I start talking, I have BAD news and GOOD news.**

**Bad - From now on I'm only updating once per week. Unless suddenly I start writing three chapters per week (which is extremely unlikely) I will stick to this. I have too little time to write 2,000 words every day. So the same applies for Changing Their Fate. **

**Good - This chapter is longer than the last few :)**

**Okay so I started this last night but couldn't be bothered finishing it, but I made myself do it today. The first 600 words were hardest. And then I kept going and then it got easier :) I had to look back on a few things because i couldn't remember what had happened in the last chapter, and I couldn't be bothered getting out my chapter plan. I basically know what happens with this chapter and the next one... but after that I'm stuck. Okay, so I'm 11 chapters through. It is not yet halfway. I don't know how long this story will be. It depends on how long it takes me to get into things. If it is going to be longer than 100,000 words I'll probably split it into two. But anyway, I proudly present to you chapter 11 of this story!  
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Vortex of Deception**

**Chapter Eleven**

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Once he had left his bedroom he decided that it was a waste of energy for him to remain invisible. The only problem was that the Veronica Bot was standing guard outside his bedroom door. He would have to move into a different section of the house before he could drop the invisibility. He would also have to be completely silent – there was no doubt that Vlad had programmed these robots with extremely keen hearing abilities.

He removed his shoes but held them in his hand – it would be suspicious if they just appeared in the hallway – as he began to creep away. His eyes remained fixed on the figure of the robot. She turned her head, a look of concentration upon her human-resembling face. Danny ceased movement as her eyes scanned the surrounding corridor, hoping with all his might that she wouldn't be able to sense him.

He almost sighed as she turned back to her earlier position, staring straight ahead of her at the wall opposite to his bedroom. Instead of making a noise, Danny continued to creep around the corner. Even when he was out of her sight he continued to walk – there was the possibility that she or someone else would round the corner at any time – until he was a reasonable distance from the robot. He once again considered the possibility of returning to visibility.

He would be able to hear anyone that was possibly approaching him at least ten metres away and would have plenty of time to return to being undetectable. And if someone spotted Danny before he was able to turn himself invisible he could always just knock them out with a ghost ray. It may be a violent solution but it would work better than other ideas Danny had had.

_Now, where shall I go?_

If there were any more secret rooms like the first, they would likely be located somewhere on the bottom floor or possibly beneath. After all, Danny didn't know if there was a basement in this mansion or if there was an entire storey that was underground. It wouldn't surprise him. Not at all. Not much would surprise him about this house anymore.

He had thought about calling the police earlier; after all, it would be the easy solution to this complicated problem. Yet he had no proof that anything suspicious was occurring in this household. The secret rooms were just that – secret. The police wouldn't be able to find them and even if they did, Vlad would have evacuated everyone and everything by that time.

Besides, there were no phones in this house.

That in itself made Danny quite suspicious. He hadn't noticed it at first until Vlad had mentioned it earlier that morning. He had absently nodded and hadn't absorbed the information until only a few hours earlier when he had first considered the idea of calling the police.

He could also run away from the house but many more complications arose from that idea. He had no idea where he was being housed – the mansion was surrounded by clusters of trees – and had no idea what sort of security was in use. Vlad obviously had some way of preventing his escape. And even if he did manage to break free, where would he go? He had no memories or recollections of his past, so if he left he could walk right into the arms of the enemy. All in all it wasn't the best idea.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Danny to freeze in fright before he remembered his plan. He hastily turned himself invisible as he pressed his body against the wall – they might walk through him otherwise, though he didn't particularly like that sensation he didn't want that to happen because they might feel a strange presence and be alarmed – as a young girl entered into his sight. She was about eight years old and was dressed in brown rags. Her mousy brown hair had obviously been neglected as it stuck out in clumps beneath her brown hat.

Once she was out of sight Danny released the breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding. He was curious as to why there was a young girl wandering around the mansion of a rich man while wearing rags. It looked as though she suffered from poverty but that couldn't possibly be true; his father wouldn't make his employees or fellow residents of his house suffer like that. He just wouldn't. _Would he?_

Danny had a crazy urge to follow the young girl, to find out who she was and what she did but he knew he couldn't allow himself to get distracted. He would be able to find out more about these people at later times. It didn't matter if Vlad was home or not; it wouldn't be too suspicious if he was just wandering around and occasionally stopping to talk to the people he encountered. It would be much less suspicious than sneaking around looking for secret underground rooms.

He walked to the end of the corridor – in the opposite direction to the little girl – and made his way to the twisting staircase that went to every floor. Well, every floor that was visible to the eye. It would be easier for Danny to transform into a ghost, turn intangible and fly down as far as he could to see if there was a secret underground floor. Unfortunately that wasn't an option that he could choose. It would be much quicker if he somehow turned off the ghost detectors that he knew would be in the house somewhere.

_I have my first mission. But I want to snoop around first. When next I see Vlad I'll ask him about the ghost detectors. If he wants to know why it is that I am interested I will lie and tell him that I am afraid of a ghost attack. He'll laugh and tell me that together we can beat any ghost, but I'll remain anxious. Then he'll reassure me with words such as 'Do not worry, son; there are many ghost detectors located around the house. No ghost could go undetected in our house here.' _Danny grinned triumphantly as he pictured the conversation he would have with the conspicuous man known as his father.

He descended to the bottom floor via the winding stairs apprehensively. If someone could hear his shoes tapping against the polished marble staircase he wouldn't be able to hide from them. They would be suspicious when they noticed that he was unaccompanied and would wonder where the Veronica Bot could possibly be. They would notify Vlad of his disobedience after escorting him back to his bedroom. And if they asked him what he thought he was doing, how would he answer?

_I got bored. I was looking for something to do. The Veronica Bot was lying unconscious outside my bedroom door, and I couldn't wake her so I just left her be. She's a robot; she'll recover easily. _

Danny cringed as his feet echoed upon the iron floor. _Back up… iron? _It was unusual to have an iron floor that echoed as such. There was a section of grating nearby – perhaps he was in some sort of industrial section of the mansion. It was strange, though. He was certain that other rich people's mansions didn't look a thing like this. And it also proved that his theory was correct; the floor that he had thought earlier was the bottom floor was in fact not. And even now he wasn't completely at the bottom.

Danny cried out as he felt a hand come down on his shoulder and spun around in shock. It was an elderly man – he possessed heavily wrinkled skin and fuzzy patches of gray hair – wearing a helmet and a hazmat suit. Despite his obvious old age he seemed to be faring extremely well. He had a very strong grip upon Danny's shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing, young man?"

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As he had earlier predicted, Danny had been escorted back to his bedroom. He hadn't even bothered to make an excuse to the old man – instead he had just shrugged nonchalantly. The Veronica Bot had decided that Danny could not be trusted to be left alone in his bedroom once she had discovered his escape. She stood watch in his bedroom for only ten minutes until she was replaced with a middle aged man.

The man had pulled a seat up and pushed it against Danny's bedroom door before sitting upon it. He always kept a watchful eye on Danny and hadn't yet spoken. He had only been in the room for a few minutes, though, so it wasn't as though he was unfriendly. After all, Danny hadn't offered up any conversation either. He had just sat down on his bed, looking out through a small window. It only revealed green leaves and patches of blue sky. It was a boring place.

"What's the time?"

Danny didn't possess a watch and was too lazy to turn around to look at the clock that sat upon the wall near his door. Instead he continued to look out of the window while he waited for the man to answer his question.

"Only three o'clock."

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Danny opened his eyes as he drew in a deep breath. He knew that he had just been having a nightmare; a nightmare that he would never like to relive. He wouldn't be able to relive it either – he couldn't remember any details but one. And that one detail was that this dream somehow involved the girl named Sam. And the other girl, the one with the orange hair.

Danny rolled over to look at the clock. He widened his eyes in astonishment – he had been sleeping for over eleven hours. It was only five in the morning. He had fallen asleep the earlier evening at around about five thirty due to lack of ways to entertain himself. He hadn't been able to start a conversation with the strange man but instead had spent an hour watching television. After that had come to bore him, he had returned to sitting on his bed and staring out the window.

Danny's eyes flicked to the chair that was no longer pressed against the door. The man was no longer there. In fact, the man was no longer in Danny's bedroom. Danny couldn't sense his presence anywhere, but knew that there would be someone standing outside his bedroom. They must have assumed that after he'd been asleep for a few hours, he wouldn't sneak out. Either that, or Vlad had returned and had commanded the man to disappear.

Danny stretched his aching limbs as he saw that there was a piece of paper attached to the door. And on the piece of paper was the scribble of his father's hand. He approached the paper cautiously – it was doubtful that it bore good news – before ripping it from the door. His eyes scanned the words that were written on the paper before he made a decision.

"I'm going to ask him about the portal."

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Vlad was alone in the kitchen. He had requested that the staff leave him and his son alone for a little bit. He had also mentioned that eavesdroppers would be prosecuted; possibly even executed. It depended on who it was that had been listening and for how long.

Danny took a seat near his father – he had to be close by to prevent eavesdropping – and told his stomach to settle down. He had made up a believable story and was about to confront his father about the secret room and the portal. He wasn't entirely sure what time Vlad had arrived back at the mansion but knew he had to take a gamble in that area.

"So Daniel," Vlad begun, obviously preparing a lecture for his son. Despite the fact that Danny was almost an adult, he was still treated as a child.

"Father," Danny was hesitant but made sure that his voice sounded strong and didn't waver. "Why is there a secret room with a portal in it? A portal that you yourself travelled through?"

"What?" Vlad was completely shocked that Danny knew of his secret lab.

"I saw you come out of the portal. And it was a secret room because the door was a panel in the wall that only an expert eye could spot." Danny knew that by confronting Vlad about the portal he was losing his chance to ask about the ghost detectors but didn't care. This was necessary. Things were moving way too slow.

"And how did you come about to be in this room?" Vlad was suspicious and cocked his right eyebrow enquiringly,

Danny pretended to be ashamed as he spoke the lie. "I… I was sneaking around. I wanted to find secret rooms." This was the part where he shrugged his shoulders. "And I did. Now you answer my questions… please, sir?'

He knew he sounded like an idiot but didn't care. He kept his eyes focused upon the man's face as Vlad considered the answer to his question. A small mischievous grin appeared upon his face, slightly worrying Danny. Why would his father be smiling at such news?  
"You are clever," Vlad remarked. "You remind myself of me when I was at your age. Curious and incredibly intelligent. Come, come with me. I want to show you something."

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They were standing in the secret lab that was no longer a secret. When they entered the room it had been empty – Vlad must have instructed the other robots to clear out somehow – and Vlad had gone straight to one of the computers. He pressed a few keys down on the keyboard before a notice popped up on the monitor. It read _**all doors now locked. **_

Vlad turned to Danny proudly. "This, my son, is my greatest discovery ever made. I would like to share it with you. It is a portal that leads you to other dimensions. I will instruct you on how to create one but unfortunately you will not be able to accomplish this feat. You see, I am the only one able to create such a portal within a three hundred mile radius." Vlad was gloating.

"I'd love to learn," Danny insisted eagerly.

"It's quite simple, in fact. All you need to know is the location that you wish to travel to. Oh, and the true name of the place, the true name that remains unknown to ninety percent of all humans. Luckily, I have discovered a few true names and have written them done in hope that one day you shall follow me in my footsteps." Vlad instructed Danny as he transformed into his ghost self. "You must be a ghost to complete this task, though."

Danny too changed into his ghost form in haste. He was eager to learn all that he could; he would be able to use this information to his advantage in the future. "What now?"

Vlad smiled as he noticed his son's enthusiastic behaviour. "You raise your arm and imagine bringing up a swirling portal. Then you speak the name of the world you wish to visit, followed by a series of nonsensical words that remain the same no matter what place you choose to travel to." Vlad raised his arm and closed his eyes. "Eir Havearght, eho eith alurf kronne e sotum."

A swirling red portal appeared in front of the two and Vlad gestured to it kindly. "Come, step into my realm." He invited his son.

Vlad walked into the swirling mass of light confidently. Danny hesitated for only a second before he too left his home dimension and entered another.

The first thing that he glimpsed of this world was a mass of ghosts all hovering in front of him and his father. Their odd shaped bodies were bent into bows as silence ensued.

"My loyal subjects," Vlad cried out to his audience. "The Prince has awoken! I present to you my son and heir to my thrown, Prince Daniel Plasmius!"

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**More shall be explained in the 13th chapter :) I feel so proud of myself. I finally finished the Vampire Armand, I am half way through Silence of the Lambs, I have watched the first few episodes of Death Note, I have watched the first 6 episodes of Holic, I have finished watching Armageddon and I am about to finish some of my many homework assignments. And I have written the next chapter of this :) And it was longer. Haha. Owww my stomach hurts. Anyway, I'll see you guys in a week. Please do review; it makes me oh so very happy. Ahhhhh stomach acheeeeeeeeeeeee. I finished the chapter off really quickly because I set myself an hour to write and that hour was up, so sorry! Anyway, bye bye!**

REVIEW

**Love from an aching achey stomach Kirstyyyyyyn!  
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	13. Authors Note

**Okay. No this is not a chapter. No I have not updated. But here's my message:**

**I'm not writing these stories anymore. I've completely deleted them from my computer and my mind. I'm not going to go into a whole story about why I'm not writing them anymore because I'm not going to share my personal life with a bunch of strangers. I'm not writing these stories anymore because I'm not. I don't care how much of an "inconvenience" it might be for some of you, or whatever, I don't care. I wouldn't have bothered to put this up but I'm sick of people bothering me.**

**So here answers your questions.**

**No, I'm not going to update this story.**

**No, I'm not going to update any of my other stories.**

**No, I'm not planning on writing more stories.**

**And no, I don't care what you think of this.**

**So there you have it.**


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